Quote Originally Posted by Fallout View Post
I'm not going to act like Hawking was a saint, but his work in his prime was phenomenal, and even right before he actually died, people took what he had to say seriously on all kinds of subject matters. It's not just "Oh, Richard Dawkins is raving about Brexit again" or something like that, people stopped and listened to his perspective on all manners of things. That takes a very special mind to accomplish.

Plus, when he was diagnosed with his condition in university, he was initially given 2 years to live. He lasted those 2, plus an extra 50 on top. Even if the man was just another random citizen of the world, that would still be unbelievably impressive in its own right.
Oh no doubt. Human spirit is a powerful force, and Hawking was full of it.

I had an astronomy class in high school and that was when I started to learn about how Hawking wasn't this all knowing guy, then I took a college class and learned a lot about him. A great mind no doubt, but I do think that asking how much his condition played into his fame is a fair question to ask.