Few luminaries bridged the frontiers of science and pop culture as completely as physicist Stephen Hawking, and that fact was as obvious as 2+2=4 in the tributes that were tweeted as word of his death spread.
Hawking played himself as a wheelchair-riding brainiac on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Big Bang Theory,” and popped up as an animated character on “The Simpsons” and “Futurama.” He was also a frequent host or guest star for a plethora of science documentaries.
Here’s a sampling of the tributes, starting with Microsoft’s past and present CEOs, Bill Gates and Satya Nadella:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgWnS5CFyrk/?hl=en&taken-by=thisisbillgates
https://twitter.com/satyanadella/status/973783773505564675
https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/973974983452995584
https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/974016216758214657
https://twitter.com/theresa_may/status/973839123168579584
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/973772335537893377
https://twitter.com/BillNye/status/973976224925208576
https://twitter.com/exploreplanets/status/973781008284831744
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/973787392590172160
https://twitter.com/Virgin/status/974006038281236481
https://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/973932851644178432
https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/973875224675483648
https://twitter.com/BrentSpiner/status/973775336637849600
https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/973998117551878146
https://twitter.com/Paul_Dini/status/973789387917021187
https://twitter.com/katyperry/status/973773679598362625
https://twitter.com/Courtney/status/973803056679870465
https://twitter.com/Wisdom_Of_Homer/status/973802539983491073
https://twitter.com/euronews/status/973804762385780739
https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/973778352304771072
https://twitter.com/bigbangtheory/status/973789142780964864
https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/973788806238359553
https://twitter.com/BAFTA/status/973936685254955008
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/973936533320413184