Hawking was diagnosed with ALS when he was only 21 and a student at Cambridge. While the disease is extremely debilitating, Hawking continued his studies and went on to do some of the most groundbreaking work in cosmology and physics (per Biography). But amassing a fortune took some time. According to Vanity Fair, he only earned £19,000 ($25,000) while working as a university fellow in the 1980s. It wasn’t until the publication of his book “A Brief History of Time” in 1988 that Hawking’s finances really took a turn. The book became a worldwide bestseller, selling over 10 million copies and earning him millions.
The numbers differ from source to source, with estimates going from £2 million to £4 million for the sales of this title alone, Newsweek reports. He went on to write several other titles, including “A Briefer History of Time,” a simplified version of his bestseller (supposed to already be a “simpler book for the masses”), which also sold very well, according to Biography. By this time, Newsweek reports, Hawking was also working at Cambridge University as a mathematics professor, where the usual annual salary for professors is around £140,000.
Hawking also made money in unexpected ways, such as promoting products (including a chain of eyeglass stores) on TV. According to a 2004 profile of Hawking in Vanity Fair, these earned him an additional $2 million, which also approximated his annual income at the time.
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