Today is gone Stephen Hawking. I had 76 years and possibly it is already in one of its universes, black holes or galaxies. Or maybe it has become the most prestigious knowledge star that he managed to be in his life. In any case, he also leaves us that huge and brilliant legacy that he compiled in some books, since he was also a great popularizer. In his memory I have chosen these 6 titles to give them a review. 

Biographical note

hawking, born in Oxford in January 1942, he left us this past morning at his house in Cambridge. He long exceeded his life expectancy marked by ALS, which he had suffered from since he was 21 years old and confined him to a wheelchair. And since 2005 he could only communicate by moving a muscle under his eye with which he operated a speech synthesizer. But that disability never confined his brilliant mind.

Became the best known scientist of the world from 1988 when he published History of Time, the book that elevated him. Much of that fame was also due to its enormous talent for popular science of astrophysics, which he carried out all over the world. And it also had a great sense of humor. For the new generations, or the more television, their participation, always full of that humor, in the famous series will remain in the retinas The Big Bang Theory, which is precisely named after his famous theory with which he referred to the origin of space and time.

The last curiosity that he leaves us is that he has gone in the Pi number day (3,14 ...) and in the Albert Einstein's 139th birthday. And today may also be a good day to see The theory of everything, the movie of 2014 that was worth a Oscar to the best actor to Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Hawking.

Brief history of time

Book of disclosure about space and time where Hawking clearly and concisely presents the fundamental concepts of the Newtonian mechanics, relativity theory, quantum mechanics or cosmology contemporary. It also appears in broader fields such as metaphysics and theology, since the nature not only of a creator God is raised, but also the guarantor of the meaning of the universe.

The theory of everything

In this work Hawking tells us a history of the universe that goes from big bang to black holes. Does it in seven steps starting with the first theories of the Greek world and medieval times to the most complex of these days. Use your characteristic didactic and accessible tone to all audiences. And its referents such as Newton, Einstein, quantum mechanics, black holes and the theory of great unification reappear.

The origin of the universe

Written with her daughter Lucy, mix a great science adventure story for kids. The largest scientific experiment in history is launched and George and Annie, the protagonists, will see it from the front row. They will accompany Eric, Annie's father, who is working at the European Center for Nuclear Research, to Switzerland.

There is the great particle collider, able to explore the first moments of the universe, the so-called Big Bang. Scientists around the world have been working on the experiment for years and nothing can go wrong. But then George and Annie find out a plan to sabotage it. The question is to find out if they will arrive in time to prevent it.

The Universe in a Nutshell

Again with his didactic tone, Hawking invites us to join him in a great journey through space-time towards a wonderland in which particles, membranes and strings dance in eleven dimensions. At the same time, black holes evaporate and disappear, taking their secret with them. And we end up where the little nut dwells -the first cosmic seed- from which the universe in which we inhabit arose.

Black holes and small universes

This work is a collection of texts written by the English physicist between 1976 y 1992. They were written over sixteen years. Constitute tests -since autobiographical sketches even clear and entertaining explanations of major problems in physics today - reflecting the progressive state of Hawking's knowledge. There's also lectures and an interview where Hawking shows us the new discoveries about the universe.

Short story of my life

This title is a autobiography concise and sincere where Hawking talks about his life, from his childhood in post-war London to his years of worldwide fame and success. This illustrated with little-known photographs and presents us with a Hawking like him student who was always asking and whose classmates nicknamed "Einstein." Also to joker who once made a bet with a colleague about black holes. And to young parent who struggled to make a dent in the competitive academic world.

It is written with humility and humor and in it Hawking opens up about the challenges she had to deal with after she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. That prospect of an early death led him to raise his thinking and more intellectual challenges.