Last updated on: 8/14/2014 | Author: ProCon.org

Stephen Hawking, PhD Biography

Title:
Cosmologist and Theoretical Physicist
Position:
Pro to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those that help them should be free from prosecution. We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?”

Interview with the BBC, www.bbc.com, Sep. 17, 2013
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to end-of-life issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to end-of-life.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Director of Research, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, 2009-present
  • Fellow, Royal Society, 1974-present
  • Recipient, Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009
  • Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge University, 1979-2009
  • Recipient, Fonseca Prize, 2008
  • Founder, Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, University of Cambridge, 2007
  • Recipient, Copley Medal, Royal Society, London, 2006
  • Honoree, Pius XI Gold Medal for Science from Pope Paul VI, 1975
  • Faculty member, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, 1968-1973
  • Professor, Gravitational Physics, University of Cambridge, 1977-present
  • Research Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, 1965-1969
  • Research Student, General Relativity, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University, 1962-1965
Education:
  • PhD, Cosmology, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, 1966
  • BA, Natural Science, First Class Honors, Physics, University College, Oxford University, 1962
Other:
  • Born Jan. 8, 1942 in Oxford, England
  • Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) at age 21 in 1963
  • Twitter handle: @Prof_S_Hawking
  • Dr. Hawking died on Mar. 14, 2018 in Cambridge, England, at age 76
Quoted in:
  1. Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?