Stephen Hawking, cosmologist, author, and director of research in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University passed away on 14 March 2018. This popular-level talk discussed his many contributions to physics and their importance. Professor Hawking made seminal contributions in the field of general relativity and in combining quantum mechanics with general relativity. His works included theorems in general relativity and ideas about the origin of the Universe. One of his most influential discoveries was that black holes, which are expected to absorb all nearby material, will also give out radiation, which is famously referred to as Hawking radiation.

Professor Raghavan Rangarajan is Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Undergraduate College at Ahmedabad University. His areas of research are cosmology and particle physics, and he works primarily on processes that occurred in the very early Universe soon after the Big Bang.