Question 2 of 11

Stephen Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary what famous scientist's death?

... Hawking was born on Jan. 8, 1942, the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death.

Question 3 of 11

What is Hawking's middle name?

... It's Stephen William Hawking.

Question 4 of 11

What disease has left Hawking in a wheelchair for about 40 years?

... Hawking has ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, known in the U.K. as motor neurone disease.

Question 5 of 11

In 1975, Hawking made a bet with fellow scientist Kip Thorne that Cygnus X-1 was not a black hole. Hawking lost -- what did Thorne win?

... Thorne got a year of Penthouse. In 1997, the two, along with John Preskill, made a public wager on something about radiation and quantum mechanics that we are not even going to pretend to understand. Hawking lost again. Those crazy cosmologists!

Question 6 of 11

Hawking has been working for pretty much his entire career to find an equation that would encapsulate the theory of the origin of the universe. What do scientists call this theory?

... Again, we can't even try to explain it in a sentence, but let's just say it's called the Grand Unified Theory and physicists have been working on it for a really long time. The Theory of Everything is a little different -- if discovered, it would explain, well, everything.

Question 7 of 11

In 1979, Hawking was made the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. What other revolutionary scientist held this post?

... Sir Isaac Newton, 300 years earlier.

Question 8 of 11

When did Hawking publish "A Brief History of Time"?

... "A Brief History of Time" was an instant best-seller when it came out in 1988.

Question 9 of 11

How many kids does Hawking have?

... He has three children from his first marriage: Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

Question 10 of 11

Hawking wrote a children's book with his daughter, Lucy. What is its title?

... Hawking and his daughter collaborated on "George's Secret Key to the Universe," the first in a planned trilogy of children's books.

Question 11 of 11

Hawking was able to move freely without his wheelchair one day in 2007. What was the occasion?

... Hawking took a ride on a "vomit comet" zero-gravity flight in April 2007.

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