Newly uncovered diaries written by Frank Hawking reveal that the father of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking was deeply concerned about his son’s lack of initiative and academic effort during his student years. The diaries, written partly in code, lament that Stephen “hangs round the house with little initiative and does not study much”.
The diaries are among family papers and photographs accessed by biographer and physicist Graham Farmelo for the first definitive biography authorised by the Stephen Hawking estate, to be published in September. Farmelo described the material as a “24-carat source” offering a “raw and honest insight” into Hawking’s upbringing and his diagnosis of motor neurone disease at age 21.
In a 1961 diary entry, Frank wrote: “We are a little worried at the way Stephen is turning out. He hangs round the house with little initiative and does not study much.” He added that Stephen’s mother thought he had an “inferiority complex” and had lost faith in physics at Oxford, considering it inferior to arts.
Frank kept a diary for more than 60 years, writing many entries in a secret code using Greek script, which Farmelo has deciphered, translating over 200,000 words. The diaries also reveal Frank’s struggle with his son’s declining health after the diagnosis, noting in 1967: “I find it a slow and ghastly experience with [Stephen]. Everything is so dreadfully slow and long drawn out.”
Despite his father’s early worries, Stephen Hawking went on to become a world-renowned pioneer of black hole theory, author of the bestselling A Brief History of Time, and an inspiration to millions. He defied medical expectations that he would die within two years of his diagnosis, living until 2018 at age 76.
