The Incredibly Complex Life Of Stephen Hawking

Hawking Struggled In School

Photo Credits: DESIREE MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images

Although Hawking was nicknamed “Einstein” in school, his grades said otherwise. At first, he didn’t achieve initial success and it took him time and effort to find his footing. Yet he did have a capacity for science and decided to read mathematics at school after being inspired by his former teacher Dikran Tahta.

Concerned that there weren’t many jobs in the field of mathematics, his father urged him to study medicine although that did not interest a young Hawking. His father also wanted him to attend his own alma mater the University College, Oxford which Hawking obliged. Since Oxford didn’t have the option to read mathematics at the time, Hawking decided to study physics and chemistry and earned a scholarship after taking the examinations in 1959.