ETA: GK beat me to the punch, but I merged his thread and mine.

Hawking's family has confirmed that he died today at his home in Cambridge. Hawking was 76 years old which is almost miraculous since he was diagnosed with ALS when he was just 21. Doctors at the time gave him a life expectancy of only 2 years, but he had a slowly progressive version of the disease.

Hawking was a genius mathematician and probably best known for his work in theoretical physics. While his disease dibilitated his body, his mind seemed to grow stronger. One can only imagine the things he could have shown us had he had full functionality of both his mind and body.

Many believe that Hawking was nearing the verge of some amazing discoveries that could have significantly changed how we see our world and the universe. His contributions to science will be missed.