Around the world today Stephen Hawking is being remembered for his groundbreaking work with black holes and general relativity. The British scientist died at his home in Cambridge in the early morning hours Wednesday. CGTN correspondent Richard Bestic reflects on the life of the legendary scientist.

Wherever he went, Stephen Hawking was hailed as an intellectual giant his lectures hugely popular for their mix of humour, humanity and brilliance.

STEPHEN HAWKING PHYSICIST "I want to report that I think I have solved a major problem in theoretical physics that has been around since I discovered that black holes radiate thermally thirty years ago."

Under the gaze of the world famous, Hawking spent his life making simple the unimaginably complex.

STEPHEN HAWKING PHYSICIST "Yet if as I hope, basic science becomes part of general awareness, what now appear as a paradox of quantum theory will seem as just common sense to our children's children."

Hawking took his message of mathematical beauty where he could, here to the University of Birzeit on the West Bank, fighting the paralysis brought on by motor neuron disease. At the age of 21 he was told in 1966 that he had just two years to live. Unfair he said in his 2013 memoir- My Brief History, fifty years later he said he was quietly satisfied with his life. A huge understatement for a man who challenged the theory of everything as well as his physical limits. After four decades of being confined to a wheelchair, he even tried a zero gravity experience at Kennedy Space Centre seeing science as a saviour for humankind.

STEPHEN HAWKING PHYSICIST "I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space. I have long wanted to go into space and the zero gravity flight is the first step towards space travel."

A movie of Hawking's life – The Theory of Everything – mirrored his professional achievements and his personal setbacks.Hawking ultimately lost of his voice to motor neuron disease and a speech synthesiser became the sound of his thinking to the world. He became internationally famous for his 1988 book- a Brief History of Time, one of the most complex tomes to ever achieve mass appeal. If anything making the universe understandable is the great legacy of Stephen Hawking – a Cosmologist and theoretical physicist with the common touch, who has died aged 76. Rb CGTN, London.