President Kovind, PM Modi condole Professor Hawking's death

New Delhi [India], Mar 14 (ANI): President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed grief over the death of eminent British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking who died at the age of 76.

"Sad to hear of the passing of scientist Stephen Hawking. His brilliant mind made our world and our universe a less mysterious place. And his courage and resilience will remain an inspiration for generations," President Kovind wrote on Twitter.

Sad to hear of the passing of scientist Stephen Hawking. His brilliant mind made our world and our universe a less mysterious place. And his courage and resilience will remain an inspiration for generations #PresidentKovind

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 14, 2018

Prime Minister Modi also took to the micro-blogging site and wrote, " Professor Stephen Hawking was an outstanding scientist and academic. His grit and tenacity inspired people all over the world. His demise is anguishing. Professor Hawking's pioneering work made our world a better place. May his soul rest in peace."

Professor Stephen Hawking was an outstanding scientist and academic. His grit and tenacity inspired people all over the world. His demise is anguishing. Professor Hawking's pioneering work made our world a better place. May his soul rest in peace.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 14, 2018

A family spokesperson of Professor Hawking on Wednesday announced his death earlier on Wednesday.

Professor Hawking's children in a statement described him as a great scientist and an extraordinary man, whose work and legacy will live on for many years.

The British physicist was the subject of the 2014 film 'The Theory Of Everything', which starred British actors Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones respectively, Sky News reported.

In 1963, Professor Hawking contracted a motor neuron disease that gradually paralysed him over the decades. He was still able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device.

He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

Professor Hawking is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

In 2002, he was ranked 25th in the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) poll of the '100 Greatest Britons.'

His book - 'A Brief History of Time', a popular-science book on cosmology, had appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks in the 2000s. (ANI)