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Jane Hawking

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Jane Hawking
Born
Jane Beryl Wilde

(1944-03-29) 29 March 1944 (age 80)
Occupation(s)Author, educator
Spouse(s)Stephen Hawking
(1965–1995)
Jonathan Hellyer Jones
(1996-present)
Children3, including Lucy Hawking

Jane Beryl Hawking Jones, Ph.D. (née Wilde, born 29 March 1944, known publicly as Jane Hawking) is an English author and educator. She is the ex-wife of Stephen Hawking.[1] and the author of the autobiography Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen.

Personal life

Jane was born to Beryl (née Eagleton) and George Wilde. She grew up in St Albans, Hertfordshire and later studied languages at Westfield College.[2] She and Stephen Hawking met through mutual college friends at a party in the early 1960s. Even in the face her fiance's diagnosis of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) and resulting in short life expectancy, the couple married in 1965 in their shared hometown of St. Albans.[3] Together, the couple had three children: Robert, born in 1967, Lucy born in 1970, and Timothy born in 1979.[citation needed]

After years of working on her doctoral thesis through Westfield College, Jane received her PhD in Medieval Spanish poetry in April 1981.[4][bare URL] Jane was compelled to do a PhD, so that she would have an academic identity of her own within Cambridge.[5] Jane and her husband separated in 1990, and divorced five years later. In 1996, she married musician Jonathan Hellyer Jones.[6] Following her remarriage, Jane continued to support her ex-husband through his health problems as he continued to work.[7]

During her marriage to her first husband while dealing with the progression of his illness, Jane suffered from depression. In a 2004 interview, she cited her Christian faith as giving her hope during her marriage and the depression she experienced as a result of being her then-husband's caregiver. In the same interview, Jane noted an "irony" in her faith-based strength to support her ex-husband in light of his well-known atheism.[8]

Later life

In 1999 Jones wrote an autobiography about her first marriage, Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen. Jones and her first husband established a working relationship following his separation and divorce from his second wife. In 2007, an updated version of the autobiography was re-published under the title Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen.[2] and was subsequently made into the award-winning film The Theory of Everything.

Jones resides with her second husband in England.

Works

  • Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen Macmillan Publishers, London 1999 ISBN 0-333-74686-4
  • Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen Alma Books 2007 ISBN 1-84688-065-3

Portrayal in media

Jane Hawking was portrayed on television by Lisa Dillon in 2004's Hawking. She was portrayed on film by Felicity Jones in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything (for which Jones received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress) which was adapted from her memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen.[9]

References

  1. ^ "L'attribution de la Medaille D'or Pie XI" [The allocation of the Pius XI Gold Medal] (PDF) (in French). Pontificia Acadedemia Scientiarvm. 1975. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b Anderson, L.V. (7 November 2014). "How Accurate Is The Theory of Everything?". Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. ^ Ferguson, Kitty (3 January 2012). Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-230-34060-2.
  4. ^ http://simplyknowledge.com/science/stephen-hawking
  5. ^ Hawking, Jane (1 January 2015). "The Theory of Everything: the true story of Stephen Hawking and Jane Hawking's marriage".
  6. ^ Ferguson, Kitty (2011). Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work. Transworld. ISBN 978-1-4481-1047-6.
  7. ^ Adams, Tim (3 April 2004). "Brief history of a first wife". The Observer. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
  8. ^ "Jane Hawking: Brief history of a first wife". The Guardian. 3 April 2004. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  9. ^ Anderson, L.V. (7 November 2014). "How Accurate Is The Theory of Everything?". Slate. Retrieved 2014-11-11.