Lucy Hawking

Catherine Lucy Hawking was born on November 2, 1970, to theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and writer Jane Wilde Hawking. She spent her early years in Cambridge and Pasadena, California, before attending the Stephen Perse Foundation. She pursued higher education at the University of Oxford, studying French and Russian, and later specialized in international journalism at City University of London. Early in her career, Hawking worked as a journalist, contributing to publications such as *New York* magazine, the *Daily Mail*, *The Telegraph*, *The Times*, the *London Evening Standard*, and *The Guardian*, and also worked in radio journalism.

Hawking transitioned into authorship, publishing her first two adult novels, *Jaded* (2004) and *Run for Your Life* (2005). A significant turning point in her career was her entry into children’s literature, driven by a desire to make science engaging for younger generations. In 2007, she co-authored *George’s Secret Key to the Universe* with her father, Stephen Hawking, and Christophe Galfard. This book initiated a successful series that has been translated into 38 languages and published in 43 countries, including titles like *George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt* (2009) and *George and the Big Bang* (2011). In 2015, she received funding from the UK Space Agency for the *Principia Space Diary* education project, which reached over 60,000 students in the UK and was nominated for a Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Excellence in Space Education. Her work consistently focuses on using entertainment, particularly children’s literature and adventure narratives, to involve young people in science education and critical thinking.

Beyond her writing, Hawking is actively involved in philanthropic and educational initiatives. She serves as Vice President of the National Star College, an institution supporting individuals with disabilities, and is a trustee of the Autism Research Trust. Her commitment to science education has led her to participate in numerous speaking engagements globally, including NASA’s 50th birthday lecture series in 2008, where she spoke on children and science education, and the BrainSTEM: Your Future is Now festival at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2013.