Lucy Hawking
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Catherine Lucy Hawking (born 2 November 1970) is an English
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
,
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
, educator, and
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
. She is the daughter of the
theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...
Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...
and writer Jane Wilde Hawking. She lives in London, and is a children's novelist and science educator.


Early life and education

Hawking was born on 2 November 1970 to scientist Stephen Hawking and author Jane Wilde Hawking. She has two brothers, Robert and Timothy Hawking, and was raised in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
after a few years spent in
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
, California, as a child. She attended the
Stephen Perse Foundation The Stephen Perse Foundation is a family of private schools in Cambridge and Saffron Walden for students aged 1 to 18. The Foundation is made up of: - 3 nurseries (2 in Cambridge and 1 in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 1–5. - 2 Junior S ...
. As a young adult, she was a carer for her father as his health declined due to
motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...
. Hawking studied
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
and
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. During university, she spent time in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
to focus on her Russian studies. After completing her degree, she studied international journalism at
City University of London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...
. There she decided not to make a career of journalism, though she found it to be good writing practice and a way to get into the writing profession.


Career

After university Hawking spent time working as a journalist. She wrote for ''New York'' magazine, the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'', ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'', ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', the ''
London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
'', and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. She also worked as a radio journalist. Hawking aspired to become an author. Her first two novels were ''Jaded'' (2004) and ''Run for Your Life'' (2005) (also published as ''The Accidental Marathon''). A few years after these books she transitioned to children's literature, and in 2007 she published ''
George's Secret Key to the Universe ''George's Secret Key to the Universe'' is a 2007 children's book written by Lucy Hawking, Lucy and Stephen Hawking with Christophe Galfard. Upon its release, the book received mixed reviews, and was followed by five sequels, ''George's Cosmic T ...
'', an adventure story about a small boy called George who finds a way to slip through a computer generated portal and travel around the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
. This book was written with her father, Stephen Hawking, and his former Ph.D. student, Christophe Galfard. It has been translated into 38 languages and published in 43 countries. Five other books have been published in the series: ''
George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he ...
'' in 2009, '' George and the Big Bang'' in 2011, ''
George and the Unbreakable Code ''George and the Unbreakable Code'' is a 2014 children's book written by Stephen and Lucy Hawking. The book is the fourth book in the George series, following ''George's Secret Key to the Universe'', '' George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt'', and '' Geor ...
'' in 2014, '' George and the Blue Moon'' in 2016 and ''George and the Ship of Time'' in 2018. In 2015, Hawking and British publisher Curved House Kids were awarded funding from the
UK Space Agency The United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the United Kingdom's British space programme, civil space programme. It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the Britis ...
to produce an education project as part of astronaut
Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...
's education outreach. The result was ''Principia Space Diary'', developed with Kristen Harrison at Curved House Kids with expert input from Professor Peter McOwan at
Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...
. It reached over 60,000 students in the UK and was nominated for a Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Excellence in Space Education by the
British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. St ...
. All of Hawking's books and articles centre around the theme of teaching science and education to children. She took interest in this topic after witnessing one of her son's friends ask her father about black holes at a party. He responded by telling him he'd " turn into spaghetti", and the boy was delighted with that answer. This experience shaped her perspective on using methods of entertainment, such as children's literature and adventure films, to engage the new generation on "post-truth" politics and scientific understandings. She also appeared on the podcast "Hawking—A Literal Genius" and talked about her father and his accomplishments.


Awards and recognition

In April 2008, Hawking participated in
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's 50th birthday lecture series, contributing a talk on children and science education. Based on her experiences in touring worldwide with ''George's Secret Key'' and giving talks on physics and astronomy to children, her lecture highlighted the need to engage children in science at an early age. A few months later, she was a recipient of a Sapio Prize—an Italian award dedicated to innovative researchers—for popularizing science worldwide. In 2010,
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
appointed Hawking writer-in-residence of its 2011 Origins Project. In 2013, Hawking spoke at the ''BrainSTEM: Your Future is Now'' festival at the
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...
in
Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto, but it is n ...
, Canada. In March 2017, Hawking was invited to speak at the Emirates Airline Festival in
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
. In June, Hawking was recognized at the
Amsterdam News The ''Amsterdam News'' (also known as ''New York Amsterdam News'') is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by s ...
Educational Foundation, which honoured her and two other women rising in the field of science.


Philanthropy

Hawking is vice president of the
National Star College The National Star College (previously known as the Star Centre) is an independent specialist further education college for people with physical disabilities, acquired brain injuries and associated learning difficulties. It is based at Ullenwo ...
, an institution dedicated to allowing people with disabilities to realise their potential through personalised learning, transition and lifestyle services, a foundation which provides care and education for young adults with complex and multiple disabilities. She is also a trustee of the Autism Research Trust.


Personal life

Hawking married Alex Mackenzie Smith in 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. She has a son who has
autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...
and has influenced her support for people on the
autistic spectrum Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...
.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawking, Lucy 1970 births Living people 21st-century British women journalists 21st-century English women writers Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of University College, Oxford Autism activists English children's writers English women journalists English women novelists Stephen Hawking 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English journalists English people of Scottish descent