Anthony Bourdain, Stan Lee and other notable deaths in 2018

From soul diva Aretha Franklin to astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and former UN chief Kofi Annan, here are some of the notable figures who passed away in 2018:

- January -

- 15: Dolores O'Riordan, singer-songwriter of Irish band The Cranberries, drowned accidentally in a hotel bath aged 46.

- 27: Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish founder of affordable flat-pack furnishing empire IKEA, passed away at home aged 91.

- February -

- 21: US preacher Billy Graham, spearhead of a worldwide evangelical Christian movement and spiritual counsel to several US presidents, passed away aged 99.

- 24: Bollywood megastar Sridevi Kapoor drowned in a hotel bathtub at the age of 54. She had appeared in around 300 films, including blockbusters such as "Mawali" ("Scoundrel").

- March -

- 10: French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, famous for the "little black dress", died in his sleep aged 91.

- 14: Physicist Stephen Hawking, Britain's most famous modern-day scientist and known for popularising the secrets of the universe, died at home aged 76. Suffering from a form of motor-neurone disease, he spent most of his life in a wheelchair and communicated via a computer speech synthesiser.

- April -

- 2: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela and an anti-apartheid icon in her own right, died in hospital aged 81 and after a long illness.

- 13: Oscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, behind "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus", died aged 86 after a short illness.

- 17: Barbara Bush, the wife of US president George H.W. Bush (in office between 1989 and 1993) and mother of president George W. Bush (2001-2009), passed away aged 92.

- 20: Swedish superstar DJ Avicii, real name Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat aged 28.

- May -

- 14: Author Tom Wolfe, acerbic chronicler of American society known for novels such as "The Bonfire of the Vanities", died aged 88 in hospital where he was being treated for an infection.

- 22: US literary giant Philip Roth, a towering figure among 20th-century novelists and 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, died of heart failure aged 85.

- June -

- 5: American handbag designer Kate Spade committed suicide at the age of 55.

- 8: US chef and television food show host Anthony Bourdain, 61, committed suicide in Alsace, eastern France, where he was filming for his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel programme "Parts Unknown".

- 18: XXXTentacion, a 20-year-old rapper whose grim rhymes propelled him to the top of the US chart, was shot in Florida.

- July -

- 5: French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, director of the landmark nine-and-a-half hour Holocaust documentary "Shoah", died aged 92.

- August -

- 6: French "chef of the century" Joel Robuchon, who at one point held a record 32 Michelin stars at the same time, died aged 73 from pancreatic cancer.

- 11: British writer V.S. Naipaul, a famously outspoken 2001 Nobel laureate who wrote on the traumas of post-colonial change, passed away aged 85.

- 16: Aretha Franklin, American "Queen of Soul" behind hits such as "Respect" and "Natural Woman", died of cancer aged 76. Her nearly eight-hour funeral was attended by former presidents, stars and musical royalty.

- 18: Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations between 1997 and 2006, died after a short illness at age 80. He was given a state funeral in his native Ghana.

- 25: John McCain -- US Republican senator, Vietnam War hero and two-time presidential candidate -- died aged 81 following a year-long battle with brain cancer.

- September -

- 6: Hollywood star Burt Reynolds, best known for alpha-male roles in the 1970s and 1980s, died aged 82 after a heart attack.

- October -

- 1: Charles Aznavour, legendary French-Armenian crooner, passed away at the age of 94.

- 15: Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and later a billionaire and philanthropist, died from cancer aged 65.

- 22: Gilberto Benetton, one of the founders of the eponymous Italian clothes brand, died aged 77 after an illness.

- November -

- 12: American comics legend Stan Lee -- co-creator of global action hero favourites including Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men and Black Panther -- passed away aged 95.

- 26: Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose work includes

"Last Tango In Paris" and Oscar-winning "The Last Emperor", died aged 77 at his home in Rome.

- 30: Former US president George H.W. Bush died aged 94, just months after his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush. They were the parents of president George W. Bush.

- December -

- 3: Belgium's richest man, multi-billionaire entrepreneur Albert Frere, passed away aged 92.

- 8: Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet-era dissident who became a symbol of resistance in modern-day Russia as a leading rights activist, died after a long illness at the age of 91.

- 28: Amos Oz, celebrated Israeli novelist and passionate advocate of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, died of cancer aged 79.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

British scientist Stephen Hawking dead at age 76

Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking has died at age 76, a family spokesman said Wednesday.

"We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today," professor Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert, and Tim said in a statement carried by Britain's Press Association news agency.


"He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years."

Hawking was Britain's most famous modern day scientist, a genius who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe.

Born on January 8, 1942 -- 300 years to the day after the death of the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei -- he believed science was his destiny.

But fate also dealt Hawking a cruel hand.

Most of his life was spent in a wheelchair crippled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neurone disease that attacks the nerves controlling voluntary movement.

Remarkably, Hawking defied predictions he would only live for a few years, overcoming its debilitating effects on his mobility and speech that left him paralyzed and able to communicate only via a computer speech synthesizer.

"I am quite often asked: how do you feel about having ALS?" he once wrote. "The answer is, not a lot."

"I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many."

Stephen William Hawking, though, was far from normal.

Inside the shell of his increasingly useless body was a razor-sharp mind, fascinated by the nature of the Universe, how it was formed and how it might end.

"My goal is simple," he once said. "It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

Much of that work centered on bringing together relativity -- the nature of space and time -- and quantum theory -- how the smallest particles in the Universe behave -- to explain the creation of the Universe and how it is governed.

LIFE ON EARTH AT RISK

In 1974, he became one of the youngest fellows of Britain's most prestigious scientific body, the Royal Society, at the age of 32.

In 1979 he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, where he had moved from Oxford University to study theoretical astronomy and cosmology.

A previous holder of the prestigious post was the 17th-century British scientist Isaac Newton.

Hawking eventually put Newton's gravitational theories to the test in 2007 when, aged 65, he went on a weightless flight in the United States as a prelude to a hoped-for sub-orbital spaceflight.

Characteristically, he did not see the trip as a mere birthday present.

Instead, he said he wanted to show that disability was no bar to achievement and to encourage interest in space, where he believed humankind's destiny lay.

"I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space," he said.

"I believe life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers."

More recently he said artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute to the eradication of disease and poverty, while warning of its potential dangers.

"In short, success in creating AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation.

"Alongside the benefits, AI will also bring dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many," Hawking said in 2016, at the opening of a new AI research center at Cambridge University.

POP CULTURE AND POLITICS

Hawking's genius brought him global fame and he become known as a witty communicator dedicated to bringing science to a wider audience.

His 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" sought to explain to non-scientists the fundamental theories of the universe and it became an international bestseller, bringing him global acclaim.

It was followed in 2001 by "The Universe in a Nutshell".

In 2007, Hawking published a children's book, "George's Secret Key to the Universe", with his daughter, Lucy, seeking to explain the workings of the solar system, asteroids, his pet subject of black holes and other celestial bodies.

Hawking also moved into popular culture, with cameos in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "The Simpsons", while his voice appeared in Pink Floyd songs.

Beyond scientific debate Hawking also weighed into politics, describing Donald Trump as "a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator" ahead of his election as US president.

Hawking also warned Britain ahead of the Brexit referendum in 2016 against leaving the European Union: "Gone are the days when we could stand on our own against the world."

MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MINUTE

Hawking first married Jane Wilde in 1965 and had three children. The couple split after 25 years and he married his former nurse, Elaine Mason, but the union broke down amid allegations, denied by him, of abuse.

The love story between Hawking and Wilde was retold in the 2014 film "The Theory of Everything", which won Britain's Eddie Redmayne the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of the scientist.

The Oscar triumph was celebrated by Hawking, who has reportedly said there were moments watching the film when he thought he was watching himself.

He was also the subject of a 2013 documentary, "Hawking", in which he reflected on his life: "Because every day could be my last, I have the desire to make the most of each and every minute."

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Hawking launches biggest-ever search for alien life

British cosmologist Stephen Hawking on Monday launched the biggest-ever search for intelligent extraterrestrial life in a $100-million (92-million-euro), 10-year project to scan the heavens.

Russian Silicon Valley entrepreneur Yuri Milner, who is funding the Breakthrough Listen initiative, said it would be the most intensive scientific search ever undertaken for signs of alien civilisation.

"In an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life," Hawking said at the launch event at the Royal Society science academy in London.

"Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching.

"Either way, there is no bigger question. It's time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth.

"It is important for us to know if we are alone in the dark."

The project will use some of the biggest telescopes on Earth, searching far deeper into the universe than before for radio and laser signals.

"Breakthrough Listen takes the search for intelligent life in the universe to a completely new level," said Milner, a former physicist.

He said the scan would collect more data in one day than a year of any previous search, tracking the million closest stars, the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and the 100 closest galaxies.

Earth's telescopes would be able to detect a signal from similarly-advanced technology sent from the centre of the Milky Way.

"We don't need to assume that civilization is way more developed than we are," Milner said.

'Huge gamble, colossal pay-off'

Martin Rees, Britain's astronomer royal and one of the project leaders, said modern technology allowed much more sensitive searches than ever before, though he cautioned against expectations of finding intelligent alien life.

"It's a huge gamble, of course, but the pay-off would be so colossal... even if the chance of success is small," the astrophysicist said.

However, the possibility of finding life had effectively risen a billionfold through the identification of billions of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, he said.

"Is there life out there? We may not answer it but this gives a bigger chance that it may be answered in our lifetime," he said.

The programme will be 50 times more sensitive than previous searches, and cover 10 times more of the sky, experts said.

It will scan at least five times more of the radio spectrum, and 100 times faster, while in tandem undertake the deepest and broadest-ever search for optical laser transmissions.

All the data will be publicly available, allowing anyone interested to do their own trawling.

Debate over sending messages

The project is allied with the Breakthrough Message initiative, a global competition with a maximum $1 million prize pot to come up with the best message humans could send into the void.

However, there is no commitment to send any such message, as experts are torn on the wisdom and ethics of doing so.

Frank Drake, who sent messages into space in the 1970s, said: "We know there are people who are afraid that sending is going to endanger us."

Hawking has warned in the past about the risks of making contact with other civilisations.

"A civilisation reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead," the 73-year-old mastermind said.

"If so, they will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria."

However, Rees said: "I suggest they know we're here already."

Drake said it could take at least 200 years before even the possibility of a reply to "shot in the dark" messages beamed into space.

By waiting to find civilisation, we could then tailor a "useful message" to send them.

Ann Druyan, who sent music on the 1970s Voyager probe launches, said the first thing to establish would be a means of communication and an intention to learn.

"We'd want to know their history, social forms, how they understand the origins of the universe," she said, but as for a first message, "'Hello' would be right up there".

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