Stephen Hawking dies aged 76

Stephen Hawking, the brilliant theoretical physicist who overcame a debilitating disease to publish numerous books probing the mysteries of the universe, has died, aged 76.

Hawking was considered by many to be the world’s greatest living scientist and was confined to a wheelchair for much of his adult life with motor neurone disease.

Hawking was also a cosmologist, astronomer, mathematician and author of “A Brief History of Time,” which sold more than 10 million copies.