LONDON, Nov 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A copy of Stephen Hawking’s doctorate
thesis signed in a shaky hand was the highlight of an auction of the British
physicist’s personal items in London, which raised nearly o1.4 million ($1.8
million, 1.6 million euros).
The copy, one of only five originals of the thesis entitled “Properties of
expanding universes”, smashed pre-sale expectations four times over to sell
for o584,750 at the Christie’s sale, which ended on Thursday.
A red leather wheelchair that Hawking used from the late 1980s to the mid-
1990s, driving himself using a joystick, sold for o296,750 while an early
edition of his bestselling book “A Brief History of Time” marked with a
thumbprint, fetched o68,750.
A script from one of his appearances on the television series “The
Simpsons” was one of the 22 lots under the hammer, selling for o6,250.
The collection highlighted the brilliance, determination and sense of
humour of Hawking, who died in March aged 76 after a lifetime spent trying to
unlock the secrets of the universe.
Hawking published his thesis in 1965, two years after being diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor-neurone disease that
would eventually leave him paralysed.
His first wife Jane typed out the 117 pages but he added two hand-written
signatures and the words “This dissertation is my original work” at the
front, as well as several mathematical equations inside.
When the document was made available online last year by Cambridge
University, where Hawking spent his career, it was so popular that it crashed
the website.
– Chronicle of life –
A collection of his medals and awards, including honours from the Royal
Astronomical Society, sold for o296,750, with the entire collection achieving
o1,384,625.
“We are very pleased to have the assistance of Christie’s to help us with
the important matter of managing our beloved father’s archives and his unique
and precious collection of personal and professional belongings, chronicling
his life and work,” the physicist’s daughter, Lucy Hawking, said before the
sale.
“We are also giving admirers of his work the chance to acquire a memento
of our father’s extraordinary life in the shape of a small selection of
evocative and fascinating items.”
An invitation he sent out to a party held several years previously, a
light-hearted experiment to see if any time travellers would turn up, sold
for more than 10 times its pre-sale estimate of o100, while a bomber jacket
he wore in a 2016 documentary raised o40,000.
The items are only a small selection from Hawking’s archive, which his
family is donating to the nation in lieu of paying inheritance tax, although
there are no details yet of where it will be stored.
The auction funds will go to the family although the money raised from
selling the wheelchair will be donated to the Motor Neurone Disease
Association and the Stephen Hawking Foundation.