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For "real world" article on the scientist and performer, please see Stephen Hawking (actor).

Professor Stephen Hawking was a noted Human scientist from 20th and 21st century Earth. At one point he held the Lucasian Chair, a position later held by an alternate timeline Data after his retirement from Starfleet. (TNG: "All Good Things...")

Two Starfleet shuttlecraft aboard the USS Enterprise-D – a Type 7 and a Galileo-type – were named for Hawking. (TNG: "The Host"; Star Trek Generations)

In 2369, Lieutenant Commander Data created a holodeck versions of Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton in order to watch how three of the greatest Human scientists would interact during a game of poker. After telling a story regarding to perihelion of Mercury and expressing his annoyance at hearing Newton's "apple story" for the umpteenth time, he successfully beat Einstein in the card game, who had incorrectly believed Hawking was bluffing about his hand. Data's observations were "most illuminating." (TNG: "Descent")

Stephen Hawking was one of the vocabulary words listed on the chart "A Tunnel in the Sky". This chart was seen in the schoolroom aboard Deep Space 9 in 2369. (DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets")

Stephen Hawking was portrayed by himself, the only person in Star Trek to do so aside from stock footage usage.
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 330), which gives his middle name as William, "Hawking developed a quantum theory of gravity, in which he sought to link the two major themes of physics: quantum mechanics and relativity. Hawking also speculated on the existence of wormholes and quantum fluctuations linking multiple universes. Hawking's scientific achievements were all the more remarkable because he was afflicted with a debilitating neural disease that kept him confined to a wheelchair, able to speak only the aid of a speech-synthesis computer." Furthermore, the authors of this reference work noted that Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, was in future Data's library at Cambridge University in "All Good Things...".

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