A new portrait of Professor Stephen Hawking has been unveiled in the Department building where he works.

The striking circular oil on linen canvas painting now hangs in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics on Wilberforce Road in honour of the celebrated theoretical physicist and cosmologist.

It is one of two paintings of Stephen Hawking by the artist Tai-Shan Shierenberg, commissioned by the philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley. The other hangs in the Royal Society in London.

Dame Shirley is already a member of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors following gifts to Cambridge Autism Research Centre and to Murray Edwards College where she is an Honorary Fellow.

Speaking at the unveiling event in front of Stephen Hawking, the artist and members of the Department, she said:

“Professor Stephen Hawking has worked for over forty years on the basic laws which govern the universe and is known for his contributions to cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes.

“I marvel at the sophistication of the science, his deceptively simpler clarity of writing, and his unique achievements against all health odds.

“It has been my great pleasure to commission this wonderful portrait by Tai-Shan Shierenberg, whose work has been variously described as ‘abstract and realist’, ‘edgy and sensitive’, ‘grand and inconclusive’, ‘violent and melancholic’ and ‘physically intense and aesthetically detached’.”

After 30 years as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Stephen Hawking is now Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge
 

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