Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, United
Kingdom on January 8th, 1942
To the left are Hawking's parents, Isobel and
Frank Hawking
Stephen is the older brother to two sisters,
Philippa and Mary, and to an adopted brother, Edward
Although they were not wealthy, both Frank and
Isobel attended the University of Cambridge
His father studied medicine and his mother
studied philosophy, politics, and economics
When Hawking was 8, the family moved to St
Albans, Hertfordshire, where he attended St Albans
High School for girls, which allowed boys to attend
until they were a certain age
Education was a considered a high value in the
Hawking household and most dinners would be spent in
silence with every one reading a book
The family was known for their intelligence and
eccentricity
In 1958, when Hawking was age 16 he, with the
help of his mathematics teacher Dikran Tahta, an
inspiration to Hawking, built a computer from
assorted materials such as clock parts and a
telephone switchboard
"Although at school he was known as 'Einstein',
Hawking was not initially successful academically"
("Stephen")
This was because he understood most of the
material being taught, so he found it a waste of
time to do any of the assigned school work
As the years went on though, Hawking started to
excel and show interest in various scientific
subjects and mathematics.
