BBC reports a family spokesperson confirmed the British mental genius's death. Associated French Press (AFP) reports Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement carried by Britain's Press Association that they are deeply saddened that their beloved father has passed away. 

They say in the statement he was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. Hawking defied predictions that he would only live for a few years after developing a form of Motor Neurone Disease which left him confined to a wheelchair. 

According to the family, his courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. "He once said: 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love.' We will miss him forever."

The scientist 

According to Wikipedia the cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology’s scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation.

He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Upbringing 

He was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, Oxfordshire, to Frank and Isobel Hawking (née Walker). His mother was Scottish. Despite their families' financial constraints, both parents attended the University of Oxford, where Frank read medicine and Isobel read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Hawking grew up in London and St Albans and, after gaining a first-class degree in physics from Oxford, went on to Cambridge for postgraduate research in cosmology. Hawking had two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward.

BBC reports as a teenager he had enjoyed horse-riding and rowing before being diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease. As he was preparing to marry his first wife, Jane, in 1964 his doctors gave him no more than two or three years of life.

But the disease progressed more slowly than expected. The couple had three children, and in 1988 - although Hawking was by now only able to speak with a voice synthesiser following a tracheotomy - he had completed, A Brief History of Time - a layman's guide to cosmology.

It sold more than ten million copies, although its author was aware that it was dubbed "the most popular book never read".

BBC/AFP/Wikipedia