Q 01/05

Hawking was born in Oxford in 1942 into a family of what profession?

A) Physicians

B) Clergymen

C) Lawyers

D) Engineers

Answer · why

A) Physicians

His mother came from a family of doctors in Glasgow and his father was a medical researcher; he found medicine 'too inexact' and chose physics.

Q 02/05

Which prestigious Cambridge chair did Hawking occupy from 1979 to 2009?

A) Plumian Professor of Astronomy

B) Cavendish Professor of Physics

C) Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

D) Savilian Professor of Geometry

Answer · why

C) Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

University rules obliged him to retire from it at 67; he stayed on as director of research.

Q 03/05

At the age of 21 Hawking was diagnosed with what condition?

A) Multiple sclerosis

B) Motor neurone disease

C) Parkinson's disease

D) Muscular dystrophy

Answer · why

B) Motor neurone disease

It was a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form that paralysed him gradually over five decades.

Q 04/05

How long did doctors initially expect Hawking to live after his 1963 diagnosis?

A) Five years

B) Ten years

C) Twenty years

D) Two years

Answer · why

D) Two years

He lived another 55 years, dying in 2018 at 76.

Q 05/05

The eccentric Hawking family travelled around their Hertfordshire town in what unusual vehicle?

A) An old hearse

B) A converted milk float

C) A retired ambulance

D) A converted London taxicab

Answer · why

D) A converted London taxicab

Meals at home were often spent with everyone silently reading a book.