‘May you keep flying like superman in microgravity’: Twitter pays homage to Stephen Hawking

stephen hawking steve elliott flickr

Stephen Hawking, legendary British theoretical physicist and all-round great guy, has died at the age of 76 in Cambridge, England.

Born in 1942 — 300 years after the death of Greek astronomer Galileo Galilei — Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at 21, an illness that stripped him of major muscle control. But that didn’t stop the man from becoming one of the planet — and possibly the universe’s — most loved scientists.

After news of his passing broke Wednesday morning, Twitter was awash with messages of condolence and remembrance.

“His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake,” wrote Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter.

“May you keep flying like superman in microgravity,” wished NASA.

“The world has lost a beautiful mind and a brilliant scientist,” wrote Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

“Godspeed on your journey to the stars,” wrote singer and actress Nancy Sinatra, after posting one of Hawking’s many tweetable quotes.

“His contributions to science will be used as long as there are scientists, and there are many more scientists because of him. He spoke about the value and fragility of human life and civilisation and greatly enhanced both,” wrote British physicist Professor Brian Cox.

“Just Sitting here absolutely shattered about Stephen Hawking,” wrote actress Emmy Rossum.

“If you haven’t, read A Brief History of Time. It’ll make the world feel more amazing and beautiful and strange. It’ll also make you feel smart and stupid all at once,” wrote actor Kumail Nanjiani.

The Simpson’s executive producer Matt Selman paid homage to Hawking’s cameos on the show over the years, of which he made 12.

Feature image: Steve Elliott via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-SA, resized)

Andy Walker, former editor
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