Stephen Hawking commemorative Star Map

We are based in Cambridge, where seeing Professor Hawking was not uncommon. We’ve sat by him at conferences, and we’ve felt proud and inspired by him and his work.

His passing touches us in a very deep way. We wanted to pay homage to him by creating a poster showing the sky over his birth place in Oxford, on January 8th, 1942. This printable star map poster is available for free download.

Download your free high resolution commemorative star map, our tribute to Stephen Hawking

(Right-click to open in new tab, or save linked file.)

The Stephen Hawking Star Map is free and for non-commercial use. Design property of Greaterskies. All rights reserved.

A very Brief History of Professor Stephen Hawking

Professor Hawking was a pioneer of science, whilst defying science’s expectations. In his memoir, My Brief History, he explains how the prospect of an early death urged him onward through numerous intellectual breakthroughs.

Professor Hawking wanted to continue to uncover the secrets of the universe and share his knowledge and the understanding to a wider audience. His best selling book, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, covers the idea that the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that if you continue inwards a black hole, gravity would become so powerful that it is infinite, thus everything is compressed together, creating a singularity. If that is happening inwards the black hole, outwards the blackhole there are particles and anti-particles, one falling in and one escaping out of the black hole’s edge. This continuous escape of particles is aptly named Hawking radiation. The particles that fall in the black hole have a negative mass, which makes the black hole smaller and smaller in time until, at its last point, then explodes with incomparable force.

The book explains that our whole universe started as a singularity and the big bang from this created the whole universe, from the galaxies, stars, planets and everything in existence.

Given the contributions Professor Hawking has made to understanding the universe, and the challenges he has faced whilst doing this, it is not difficult to see him being a perfect subject of a film. In 2014, The Theory of Everything was released, based on a book by Professor Hawking’s former wife, the film highlights the brightest and darkest times of the young scientist, from his academic rise contrasted to the descent of his health all the more keeping heart and hope.

Here at Greaterskies we shared the same city as our pioneer Professor Stephen Hawking, who quite simply engaged the minds of generations and will be doing so for decades. Through his determination and will in the face of adversity - he says it best

"I want to share my excitement and enthusiasm about this quest. So remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up."

Thank you Professor Hawking.