Incredibly rare ALS signed “Stephen,” one page both sides, 7.75 x 9.75, [postmarked April 26, 1968]. Handwritten letter to his childhood friend Bill Cleghorn at the Central Electrochemical Research Institute, sharing happy personal news on the birth of his son, along with reports of a trip to America and an uneasy professional detente with the astronomer Fred Hoyle. In full: "Excuse the delay in writing. We are at the moment on holiday in Cornwall staying in a very attractive cottage owned by the National Trust at St. Anthony-in-Roseland. The Roseland refers not to the flora but to the colour of the soil. You may or may not know that we now have a son, Robert, aged 10 months and very attractive—at least, we think so and other people seem to agree.
When he was six weeks old we took him to America where we saw John McC[lenahan] and family. He seem[s] reasonably happy but a bit homesick and proclaimed his intention of coming back to work in England a year from now. Whether he will be able to support a wife and three sons to American standards on an English salary I am not so sure. Although I wrote my first paper attacking Hoyle's theory of gravity, I have now got a job at his Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. Quite how it will work out I don't know but my present work does not impinge on his so I hope to avoid a collision. Anyway, it means a considerable increase in salary. Hope to see you back in England one of these days." In fine condition.
Stephen Hawking attended St. Albans School from the age of ten, falling in with a close-knit group of bright boys whose shared interests ranged from inventing their own board games and listening to classical music to long bicycle rides in the Hertfordshire countryside. Bill Cleghorn was one of the group, along with Hawking's best friend at that time, John McClenahan; the boys spent nearly every moment together, between completing long hours of school and homework and spending time at one another's houses. Their friendships endured beyond their school days, after the group found their separate ways to universities, new jobs, and their own families.
In 1968, three years after achieving his doctorate, Hawking had applied to work at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Cambridge, founded by the renowned Yorkshire astronomer Fred Hoyle the year before. He was awarded the post, but might yet have been justified in the sense of unease he felt about working under his new director: Hawking had publicly challenged the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravity a few years earlier, earning him academic notoriety and acclaim for his brash brilliance.
Diagnosed with early-onset motor neurone disease in 1963, Hawking’s physical capabilities deteriorated over time—his shaky hand evinced in this handwritten letter of just five years later—making authentic autographs exceedingly scarce. Confined to a wheelchair by the end of the 1970s, he opted to sign with just a thumbprint later in life. An excessively rare autograph letter from one of the towering figures of science in the 20th century.
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