Updated March 14, 2018 19:23:11

Physicist Stephen Hawking was given only two years to live when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963.

He died early this morning (UK time) at the age of 76.

Here are some images from his extraordinary life.

Photo: Professor Stephen Hawking attends the launch of Speak to Me, an exhibition which explores the role of new technologies in improving communication for people with disabilities in 1993. (Reuters)

Photo: A kiss for scientist and theorist Stephen Hawking from his new bride Elaine Mason after their civil wedding in 1995. (Reuters: Paul Bates)

Photo: Stephen Hawking at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 26, 2007. Hawking took a flight that gave the renowned scientist, who uses a wheelchair, a taste of the weightlessness of space. (Reuters: Charles W Luzier)

Photo: Stephen Hawking took a zero-gravity flight in 2007. (Wikimedia Commons: NASA)

Photo: Stephen Hawking meets former South African president Nelson Mandela at Mandela's Foundation office in Johannesburg on May 15, 2008. (Reuters: Pool)

Photo: Pope Benedict XVI greets Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican in October 2008. (Reuters: Osservatore Romano (Vatican))

Photo: US President Barack Obama talks with Stephen Hawking at the White House before a ceremony presenting him and 15 others with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on August 12, 2009. (Wikimedia Commons: Pete Souza/White House)

Photo: United States President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to scientist Stephen Hawking during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on August 12, 2009. (Reuters: Jason Reed)

Photo: At his 71st birthday celebration, Stephen Hawking was presented with a commemorative 300-millimetre silicon wafer by Martin Curley, vice-president of Intel Labs Europe. (Flickr: Intel Free Press)

Photo: Queen Elizabeth meets Stephen Hawking during a reception for Leonard Cheshire Disability charity at St James's Palace in London on May 29, 2014. (Reuters: Jonathan Brady/Pool)

Photo: Stephen Hawking poses with actress Felicity Jones, ex-wife Jane Wilde Hawking and actor Eddie Redmayne at the UK Premiere of the film The Theory of Everything, which was based around his life. (Reuters: Andrew Winning)

Photo: Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy. (Angela Micu)

Photo: Stephen Hawking addresses a public meeting in Cape Town on May 11, 2008. (Reuters: Mike Hutchings)

Topics: science-and-technology, human-interest, physics, united-states

First posted March 14, 2018 17:47:57