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Personal belongings of the late scientist Stephen Hawking fetched more than $1 million at an online auction.
The event, called “On the Shoulder of Giants,” was headed by British auction house Christie’s. It ran for nine days and sold a total of 22 items that once belonged to Hawking and other scientists.
Hawking died in March 2018 at the age of 76. For most of his life, he was bound to a motorized wheelchair because he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The disease limited his movements, leaving his whole body paralyzed. Against the odds, he was able to continue his work as a physicist, author, and cosmologist. He also became one of the most renowned scientists.
Among Hawking’s items in the auction was his motorized wheelchair, which was sold at around $392,000 to an anonymous buyer. The profit will be given to the Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
The proceeds of Hawking’s other items will become part of his net worth. These items include his thesis titled Properties of Expanding Universes, a publication about how time and space came to be. It raked in over $760,000. Also on sale was the first edition of his bestselling book A Brief History of Time that was stamped with Hawking’s thumbprint. The book was purchased at $89,750.
More than 400 people from 30 countries participated in the auction. Hawking’s daughter Lucy said that the auction was an opportunity for his fans to obtain a remembrance of his remarkable life.
According to Lucy, she is planning to make Hawking’s other belongings accessible to the public.