Lucy
Hawking lays flowers as the ashes of her father, Prof Stephen
Hawking, below, are laid to rest at Westminster Abbey
Hawking radiation is difficult, if not impossible, to observe but has huge implications for physics.
By devising an equation (dubbed "
Hawking radiation") that proved black holes have a temperature, it was proved that radiation could escape the black hole.
Hawking's greatest contribution-- that not everything is sucked into a black hole but some radiation known as "
Hawking radiation" escapes -- could be proven if astronomers find the right-sized black holes.
Cumberbatch, 41, starred as Prof
Hawking in the first portrayal of the scientist on-screen, before Eddie Redmayne took on the role in The Theory of Everything.
The President hopes
Hawking inspires Kenyans and others in the world to seek knowledge as relentlessly as he did.
His works include the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called
Hawking radiation.
Hawking contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1963 at the age of 21.
Wigmaker Alex Rouse created three hairpieces for different stages of
Hawking's life, and movement director Alex Reynolds coached Redmayne on
Hawking's limited motions--at the end of the movie he can only twitch certain muscles.
McCarten and director James Marsh get creative trying to incorporate
Hawking's contributions to science: Cream swirling around a coffee cup illustrates the region around a black hole, while Jane
Hawking uses a pea and a potato to explain the difference between quantum theory and general relativity.
Contrary to any easy assumption by the readers (appealing to the title or the deceiving cover of the book, in which we see an isolated, frozen statue of
Hawking floating in space), this is not a biography of
Hawking, or at least not a common one.
The movie is being shot near 71-year-old
Hawking's home in Cambridge.
