Lucy Hawking

Lucy Hawking
Lucy Hawking presenting her father Stephen Hawking at the lecture for NASA's 50th anniversary
Born	(1970-11-02) 2 November 1970 England
Residence	London, England
Alma mater	Oxford University
Spouse(s)	Alex Mackenzie Smith (m. 1998; div. 2004)
Children	William (b. 1997)
Parent(s)	Jane Wilde Hawking Stephen Hawking

Lucy Hawking (born 2 November 1970)^[1] is an English journalist, novelist, educator, and philanthropist.^[2] She is the daughter of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and writer Jane Wilde Hawking. She lives in London,^[3] and is widely known as a children's novelist and science educator, though her career has spanned a variety of areas.

Early life and education

Lucy Hawking was born in England to scientist Stephen Hawking and author Jane Wilde Hawking. She has two brothers, Robert and Timothy Hawking, and was raised in Cambridge after a few years spent in Pasadena, California as a child. As a young adult, she played a significant role in tending to her father's deteriorating health due to his diagnosis of motor neurone disease.^[4]

Hawking studied French and Russian at the University of Oxford. During university, she spent time in Moscow to focus on her Russian studies; after completing her degree, she went on to study international journalism at City, University of London. There, she realized that she did not want to make a career out of journalism, though found it to be good writing practice as well as also a practical way to get into the writing industry.^[5]

Career

After pursuing an education in journalism, Hawking spent a bit of time working as a journalist before publishing novels.^[6] She has written for New York magazine, the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Times, the London Evening Standard,^[7] and The Guardian.^[8] She also worked as a radio journalist.^[3]

However, 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 she published these novels, her writing style transitioned to children's books, and in 2007, she published George's Secret Key to the Universe, 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. This book was written with her father, Stephen Hawking, and his former Ph.D. student, Christophe Galfard, and has been translated into 38 languages and published in 43 countries. A second book in the series was published just two years later and is titled George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt. Two other books have been published in the series: George and the Big Bang in 2011^[9] and George and the Unbreakable Code in 2014.^[10]

All of Hawking's books and articles center 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.^[11]

Awards and recognition

Lucy Hawking has been widely recognized as an educator about the importance of science. In April 2008, Hawking participated in NASA’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, giving talks on physics and astronomy to children, the lecture highlighted the need to engage children in science at an early age.^[12] A few months later, she was a recipient of a Sapio Prize—an Italian award dedicated to innovative researchers—for popularizing science worldwide.^[13]

In 2010, Arizona State University appointed Hawking writer-in-residence of its 2011 Origins Project.^[14]

In 2013, Hawking spoke at the BrainSTEM: Your Future is Now festival at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.^[15]

In March 2017, Hawking was invited to speak at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai.^[16] In June, Hawking was honored at the Amsterdam News Educational Foundation, which honored three women rising in the field of science. ^[17]

In addition to the above awards, Lucy Hawking's recognition has placed her as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Philanthropy

Lucy Hawking dedicates a significant amount of time to philanthropic endeavors for various organizations pertaining to disability research, awareness, and support, in addition to participating in organizations and events related to science education. She is vice president of the National Star College, an institution dedicated to allowing people with disabilities to realize their potential through personalized learning, transition and lifestyle services,^[18] 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.^[19]

Personal life

Lucy Hawking was married to Alex Mackenzie Smith in 1998,^[4] but the couple divorced in 2004.^[20] She has a son named William. Diagnosed with autism, he has been an inspiration to her in her support for people on the autistic spectrum.^[8]

References