Stephen Hawking’s Archives to be displayed at Cambridge University Library

ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson went to see the Archives in Cambridge.

Stephen Hawking's Office and Archives have been donated to the Science Museum in London, by Cambridge University Library.

Professor Hawking's Cambridge archive contains letters dating from 1944-2008, a first draft of A Brief History of Time, film and tv scripts and autograph scientific manuscripts from the early phase of his career.

Following an agreement between Cambridge University Library, the Science Museum Group and the UK Government, Hawking's archive of scientific and personal papers will remain in Cambridge at the University Library.

The physicist’s family have donated the modified wheelchair that allowed him to talk and write, alongside scientific bets signed with Hawking's thumbprint to his l papers on theoretical physics and his scripts from The Simpsons.

The entire contents of Hawking's office will be preserved as part of the Science Museum Group Collection, with some of the highlights going on display at the Science Museum in 2022.

Also included is a large collection of photographs, papers and correspondence showing how, from his home in Cambridge, he communicated with Popes, US Presidents and leading scientists of the age, including Nobel Prize winners Kip Thorne and Roger Penrose.

Cambridge's acquisition of the 10,000 page archive means Professor Hawking's papers now join those of Sir Isaac Newton, and those of Charles Darwin, bringing together three of the most important scientific archives in history under one roof at Cambridge University Library

A script from 1998 recorded 'The Simpsons' episode, which features Stephen Hawking on display along with a model of his character.

University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope, said: "This is a proud day for Cambridge. Stephen Hawking was an iconic figure not just in this University and city, but around the world, an inspiration to all who met him, and admired by many, including me.

"His legacy lives on through this archive, which will inspire countless generations of young women and men with the same ambition as Stephen - to challenge our knowledge of, and help us understand our place in, the universe.

"As a hero of 20th and 21st century science, it seems entirely fitting that Stephen Hawking's archive joins those of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at the University Library, those giants upon whose shoulders we all stand."

An working diagrammatic paper by British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking entitled 'Black Hole and Unpredictability'.

Prof Hawking, one of the most renowned scientists in his field, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1964 at the age of 22 and given just a few years to live.

The father of three was later confined to a wheelchair and relied on a computer to communicate, but continued to travel the world to present lectures and further scientific knowledge.

He inspired the masses with his insight, humour and success against the odds with MND, which left him nearly totally paralysed.

He died at the age of 76 in March 2018 and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey alongside Sir Isaac Newton.