Early Concerns from Stephen Hawking’s Father
Stephen Hawking, renowned for his pioneering work in black hole theory and author of the bestselling book A Brief History of Time, which has sold over 13 million copies, inspired many to “look up at the stars and not down at your feet.” However, during his student years and as he neared adulthood, his father, Frank Hawking, expressed deep concerns about his son’s future. According to previously unknown diaries partly written in code, Frank lamented that Stephen “hangs round the house with little initiative and does not study much.”
These diaries are part of family papers and photographs that have been accessed by Graham Farmelo, a Costa award-winning biographer and physicist, who has been granted unprecedented access to this material.
New Biography Reveals Intimate Family Insights
In September, Farmelo will publish the first definitive biography authorized by the Stephen Hawking estate, as announced by the publisher John Murray. His research included previously unseen material such as the diaries of Hawking’s father and the letters and journals of his mother, Isobel. These documents had been preserved in the home of Hawking’s sister, Mary.
Farmelo described the access to these diaries and papers as “a wonderful, completely unexpected bonus.” He emphasized that they provide a “24-carat source of information about Stephen Hawking’s life, especially his formative years and the harrowing months after his diagnosis of motor neurone disease when he was only 21 years old.”
The diaries offer a “raw and honest insight” into Hawking’s upbringing and the devastating 1963 diagnosis of a fatal degenerative disease, which eventually left him almost completely paralysed.
Defying Medical Expectations
Despite medical predictions that he would die within two years, Hawking lived until 2018, passing away at age 76. Throughout his life, he established himself as one of the most celebrated minds of his time, conducting groundbreaking work in cosmology and theoretical physics, exploring the mysteries of space, time, and black holes.
His achievements became even more remarkable after he began using a wheelchair and communicated solely through a computer and voice synthesizer. As Hawking famously said,
“Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny. My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”
He also urged others to,
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
Frank Hawking’s Early Worries
In 1961, Frank Hawking, an expert in tropical diseases, could not have foreseen his son’s future accomplishments when he wrote in his diary:
“We are a little worried at the way Stephen is turning out. He hangs round the house with little initiative and does not study much. [Isobel] says he has an inferiority complex to me (he has no need to) and he has lost faith in physics at Oxford, thinking it is inferior to arts. This is a great pity if so. At his age I had a burning ambition to get on, and if only I had had half his advantages, I should have done much better.”
Frank maintained a diary for over 60 years, often writing entries in a secret code that Farmelo successfully deciphered. He translated more than 200,000 words covering Stephen’s childhood, illness, two marriages, and career as a world-class physicist.
Frank explained the coding method in his diary:
“This journal was originally written in Greek script to form a simple secret code and so secure greater privacy, which is essential for a journal which may fall into the hands of enemies or easily wounded intimates. Since the Greek alphabet does not contain all of the English letters, the following adaptations have been made …”
He included a code for the letters H, V, QU, W, and J.
Struggles with Son’s Declining Health
The diaries also reveal Frank’s difficulty in coping with Stephen’s deteriorating health. In 1967, he wrote:
“I find it a slow and ghastly experience with [Stephen]. Everything is so dreadfully slow and long drawn out. And his speech is so slow and difficult to understand that conversation is very difficult. I am very sorry for him and will do all I can for him. But I don’t enjoy being with him.”
About the Biographer and the New Book
Graham Farmelo, whose critically acclaimed book The Strangest Man won the Costa biography prize and the LA Times book prize in 2009, has interviewed close members of Hawking’s family for this new biography. These include his sisters Mary and Philippa, first wife Jane, and his three children Robert, Lucy, and Tim.
The new biography, titled Hawking, will be published on 24 September by John Murray. The publisher describes it as “the definitive portrait of an exceptional life and intellect.”
