Stephen Hawking

Hawking is the author of the book and an esteemed theoretical physicist. As such, most of the book is about his thinking based on the theories of others and theories that he has developed. His personal life comes through a bit when he mentions his disability, but more importantly he adds passages about his professional life, which includes being a consultant to the Vatican regarding the nature of the universe and giving lectures around the globe.

Black holes, the results of collapsing stars, occupy his attention, along with trying to formulate a complete unified theory of the universe. Black holes involve singularities that have infinite mass and curvature. A common feature is the event horizon, a point where nothing can escape the black hole, so if something does cross the event horizon, it can never return. Hawking radiation is named after the author because of his work...