Physicist Stephen Hawking is shown the Jantar Mantar observatory by a local guide in New Delhi on Jan. 15, 2001. During a lecture in Bombay, the previous day, Hawking predicted that someone will successfully design an improved human race by the next millennium. "I am not advocating human genetic engineering as a good thing; I'm just saying it is likely to happen whether we like it or not." Photo|AP
Stephen hawking poses for photographs outside Qutab Minar on January 16, 2001. Hawking delivered the Alert Einstein memorial lecture 2001, entitled "predicting the future: from astrology to black holes". Photo: Reuters
President K.R Narayanan talks to Stephen hawking at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on January 15, 2001. Photo| Reuters
Stephan Hawking at the Nariman point seaface, Mumbai. He was in the city to attend the conference "Strings 2001"
Stephen Hawking displays a cartoon of himself with characters from the famous television serial 'The Simpsons' during a public lecture titled 'Science in the future' in Mumbai on January 14, 2001. Photo| Reuters
In this handout photo provided by Zero Gravity Corp., astrophysicist Stephen Hawking floats on a zero-gravity jet, on April 26, 2007. The modified jet carrying Hawking, a handful of his physicians and nurses, and dozens of others, first flew up to 24,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. Nurses lifted Hawking and carried him to the front of the jet, where they placed him on his back atop a special foam pillow. Photo| AP
Pope Benedict XVI greets Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican on October 31, 2008. Photo| REUTERS/File photo
The then U.S. President Barack Obama presenting the Medal of Freedom to Stephen Hawking during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on August 12, 2009. Photo| REUTERS/File photo
Stephen Hawking at the UK premiere of the film "The Theory of Everything" which is based around his life, at a cinema in central London, Britain, December 9, 2014. Photo| REUTERS/File Photo
Taken on September 23, 2014, Stephen Hawking gives a lecture during the Starmus Festival on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife. Photo|Reuters/File photo
