Goodbye to one of the greatest minds of our generation. 

The famous British researcher and scientist Stephen Hawking died on Wednesday at his home in Cambridge at age 76, according to a statement issued by his family.

With an extraordinary strength of mind and spirit, Hawking managed to transcend the physical barriers that his paralysis (he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, for more than 50 years) thanks to a chair adapted with cutting-edge technology that allowed him to move forward with his scientific career and its investigations about the universe.

Born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, Hawking became famous in the late 60's with his theory of the singularity of space time, developed with the scientist Roger Penrose. The two physicists applied the logic of black holes to the study of the entire universe, a subject that would later be exposed in their books.

At age 21, ALS burst into his life, prostrating him first in a wheelchair, and shortly after ending all his motor skills, including speech (he managed to communicate thanks to an electronic voice synthesizer, hence his characteristic robotic voice ). His obstinate character and spirit of overcoming have become a benchmark for the whole world.

Hawking wrote numerous works, like "Brief History of Time", published in 1998, a Hawking classic. In its pages, the author responds in a bright and understandable way, like there was a beginning of time? Can you go back in time? Is the universe infinite or does it have barriers?

The book is also a review of the great theories about the cosmos, from Newton to Einstein, as well as his own explanations about time and space, including his famous theory of the Bing Bang and black holes.

The most recent "Brief history of my life" (2013) the physicist tells how he managed to pass over a serious illness and become one of the great personalities of history. It contains unpublished photos and paragraphs full of the characteristic humor of Hawking, whose texts and interviews about the universe and the meaning of life managed to become viral on the internet.

Beyond his professional and academic career, Hawking became popular thanks to his appearances in television series such as The Simpsons, Red Dwarf and The Big Bang Theory.

In 2015, Hawking was also the protagonist of the Oscar-winning film based on his life, Theory of Everything.

His friends and colleagues at the University of Cambridge have paid tribute to him with a video about his scientific and personal career. Hawking was married and had three children.

Obsessed with the study of the universe, the physicist also reflected on possible extraterrestrial life.

"If the aliens visited us, the result would be very similar to what happened when Columbus landed in America: the Native Americans did not do well, these advanced aliens could become nomads, and try to conquer and colonize all the planets they could For my mathematical brain, of pure numbers, to think of extraterrestrial life is something entirely rational, the real challenge is to discover what those extraterrestrials could be, "he said in an interview with El País in 2015.

In the interview he also recommended young Spanish scientists "to go to the United States. There they value science because it is amortized with technology "

Last October, the online publication of Hawking's doctoral thesis on the expansion of the universe collapsed the Cambridge University website, receiving more than 670,000 visits in less than two days. The document, titled Properties of expanding universes, was written by Hawking with 24 years.

In the same interview in 2015, El País asked him; "What do you think our destiny will be as a species?

Hawking responded: "I believe that the survival of the human race will depend on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe, because the risk of a disaster destroying the Earth is increasing. This being the case, I would like to awaken the interest of the public for space flights. I have learned not to look too far ahead, to concentrate on the present. There are still many more things I want to do. "