Physicist Stephen Hawking dies at 76

LONDON – Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous scientist, who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the universe, has died at age 76. His children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement carried by Britain's Press Association news agency on Wednesday: "We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. "He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years." Born on Jan. 8, 1942 -- 300 years to the day after the death of the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei -- he believed science was his destiny. But fate also dealt Hawking a cruel hand. Crippled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which attacks the nerves controlling voluntary movement, he spent most of his life in a wheelchair. Hawking defied predictions that he would only live for a few years, overcoming the debilitating effects of ALS on his mobility and speech that left him paralyzed and able to communicate only via a computer speech synthesiser. "I am quite often asked: how do you feel about having ALS?" he once wrote. "The answer is, not a lot.