Stephen Hawking, an appreciation: ‘He had an unquenchable zest for life’

Science journalist Roger Highfield remembers Stephen Hawking's great determination - a steely defiance of the odds that took him to infinity and beyond

Yes, he was the world's best-known scientist, the galaxy's most unlikely celebrity, a brilliant mind trapped in a failing body, a global inspiration to disabled people, and so much more.

But there was also a glint of steel in Stephen Hawking. All the accounts that try to capture the spirit of Hawking's work tend to gloss over a grittier ingredient that was harder to convey: a relentless drive and unquenchable zest for life that has allowed him to achieve so much despite his huge physical challenges. As his daughter Lucy would often say, he was "enormously stubborn".

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