AP CM expresses grief over demise of Stephen Hawking

Vijayawada, Mar 14: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday expressed grief over the demise of prominent British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking who died at the age of 76.

"Hawking is a great scholar who had overcome physical inability and explored many spatial secrets. He is a great teacher who had delivered complex scientific issues in simple language and made them accessible to the layman," Naidu said.

A family spokesperson of Professor Hawking announced his death earlier today.

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, media reported.

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