On 8 January 1642 Galileo Galilei died – and on exactly that same date, 300 years later, on 8 January 1942, Stephen Hawking was born. Two of the greatest astronomers of our time. Therefore it makes sense that he reminded us to “look up at the stars and not down at your feet”

The death of this famous black-hole theorist who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and who used a speech-generating augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)  device, will leave a hole in the greater universe. He was passionate about science and the importance of curiosity in trying to understand the universe, why it is as it is, and why it exists at all.

He was outspoken about the power of communication and said: “For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

How much poorer would our understanding of the universe be, had it not been for the AAC technology that enabled him to communicate and share his thoughts and ideas and great intellect. His life reminds us that we should continuously strive to ensure that everybody is awarded this same power of communication, and be given the opportunity to interact, to share, to learn, to teach and to be.

“Quiet people have the loudest minds” Stephen Hawking said. Let us never forget that.