World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Physics

D-Index
116
Citations
148437
World Ranking
925
National Ranking
88

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2015 - BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
  • 2013 - Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics For his discovery of Hawking radiation from black holes, and his deep contributions to quantum gravity and quantum aspects of the early universe.
  • 2009 - Presidential Medal of Freedom, United States
  • 2003 - Oskar Klein Medal, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
  • 1999 - Lilienfeld Prize, American Physical Society
  • 1992 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1988 - Wolf Prize in Physics for their brilliant development of the theory of general relativity, in which they have shown the necessity for cosmological singularities and have elucidated the physics of black holes. In this work they have greatly enlarged our understanding of the origin and possible fate of the Universe.
  • 1987 - Dirac Medal, Institute of Physics
  • 1978 - Albert Einstein Award, Institute for Advanced Study
  • 1976 - Hughes Medal, Royal Society of London for his distinguished contributions to the application of general relativity to astrophysics, especially to the behaviour of highly condensed matter
  • 1976 - Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics
  • 1975 - Eddington Medal, Royal Astronomical Society

Overview

Stephen W. Hawking was affiliated with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Their research primarily focused on the field of Physics and Astronomy, with specific contributions to several subfields including Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Oceanography, and Geography, Planning and Development.

The scientist's work spanned multiple main topics, notably:

  • Relativity and Gravitational Theory
  • Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
  • Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
  • Computational Physics and Python Applications
  • Geophysics and Gravity Measurements
  • History and Developments in Astronomy
  • Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies

Among the recent papers published by Stephen W. Hawking were:

  • "Particle Creation by Black Holes," 2021, published in Resonance
  • "Index," 2023, Cambridge University Press eBooks
  • "Pápa kiváltságos mezőváros írásbelisége a 18-19. Században," 2024, Comitatus Önkormányzati Szemle
  • "Marczali (Morgenstern) Henrik pápai évei (1867-1870)," 2025, PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

Their frequent co-authors included:

  • George Ellis (12 publications)
  • Spenta R. Wadia (1 publication)
  • R. Blakeslee Gilpin (1 publication)
  • Richard Wollheim (1 publication)
  • David M. Kreps (1 publication)

Common venues for publication involved:

  • Resonance
  • Cambridge University Press eBooks
  • Comitatus Önkormányzati Szemle
  • PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

Stephen W. Hawking also contributed books published by Cambridge University Press and Groupe Flammarion. Notable titles include:

  • The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (2023), with 816 citations
  • Une brève histoire du temps. Du Big Bang aux trous noirs (2020), with 7 citations

The scientist received several awards throughout their career, including:

  • BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, 2015
  • Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, 2013, for the discovery of Hawking radiation from black holes and contributions to quantum gravity and the early universe
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom, United States, 2009
  • Oskar Klein Medal, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2003
  • Lilienfeld Prize, American Physical Society, 1999
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992
  • Wolf Prize in Physics, 1988, for development of the theory of general relativity related to cosmological singularities and black holes
  • Dirac Medal, Institute of Physics, 1987
  • Albert Einstein Award, Institute for Advanced Study, 1978
  • Hughes Medal, Royal Society of London, 1976, for contributions to applying general relativity in astrophysics
  • Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics, 1976
  • Eddington Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 1975

Best Publications

  • Particle Creation by Black Holes

    S. W. Hawking;S. W. Hawking

  • The large scale structure of space-time

    Stephen William Hawking;George Francis Rayner Ellis

  • The Large Scale Structure of Space‐Time

    S. W. Hawking;G. F. R. Ellis;R. K. Sachs

  • The Illustrated A Brief History of Time

    Stephen W. Hawking

  • Black hole explosions

    S. W. Hawking

  • The four laws of black hole mechanics

    James M. Bardeen;B. Carter;S.W. Hawking

  • Wave Function of the Universe

    J. B. Hartle;S. W. Hawking

  • Action Integrals and Partition Functions in Quantum Gravity

    G.W. Gibbons;S.W. Hawking

  • Cosmological Event Horizons, Thermodynamics, and Particle Creation

    G. W. Gibbons;S. W. Hawking

  • Thermodynamics of black holes in anti-de Sitter space

    S. W. Hawking;Don N. Page

  • Breakdown of Predictability in Gravitational Collapse

    Stephen William Hawking

  • General Relativity; an Einstein Centenary Survey

    Stephen W. Hawking;W. Israel

  • The Development of Irregularities in a Single Bubble Inflationary Universe

    S.W. Hawking

  • The Singularities of gravitational collapse and cosmology

    Stephen William Hawking;Roger Penrose

  • Gravitationally collapsed objects of very low mass

    Stephen Hawking

  • Black Holes in the Early Universe

    Bernard J. Carr;S.W. Hawking

  • Black Holes and Thermodynamics

    S. W. Hawking;S. W. Hawking

  • Zeta function regularization of path integrals in curved spacetime

    S. W. Hawking

  • Black holes in general relativity

    S. W. Hawking

  • The Nature of Space and Time

    Stephen W. Hawking;Roger Penrose

Frequent Co-Authors

Gary W. Gibbons
Gary W. Gibbons University of Cambridge
Roger Penrose
Roger Penrose University of Oxford
Don N. Page
Don N. Page University of Alberta
George F. R. Ellis
George F. R. Ellis University of Cape Town
Carey Pope
Carey Pope Texas A&M University
Neil Turok
Neil Turok Perimeter Institute
Andrew Strominger
Andrew Strominger Harvard University
Gary T. Horowitz
Gary T. Horowitz University of California, Santa Barbara
John Preskill
John Preskill California Institute of Technology

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Best Scientists Citing Stephen W. Hawking