'Wherever you are in this miraculous multiverse, thank you': readers' tributes to Stephen Hawking

Guardian readers share their tributes and memories of the physicist and author of A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking, the brightest star in the firmament of science, whose insights shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in the millions, has died aged 76.

For fellow scientists and loved ones, it was Hawking's intuition and wicked sense of humour that marked him out as much as the fierce intellect which, coupled with his illness, came to symbolise the unbounded possibilities of the human mind.