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A copy of Stephen Hawking's doctoral thesis signed with trembling hands was the culmination of an auction of British physicist personal items in London, which raised nearly $ 1.8 million (S $ 2.48 million)
The copy, one of only five originals from the thesis entitled "Properties of Expanding Universes", destroyed the four-fold pre-sale hope for sale for $ 758,888 on Christie's sales, which ended on Thursday.
The red leather wheelchair used by Hawking from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, driving alone using a joystick, sold for $ 385,122, while the initial edition of his bestseller "A History of Time" was marked with a thumbprint, reaching nearly $ 90,000 .
A script from one of his appearances on the television series "The Simpsons" was one of 22 lots under the hammer, selling for around $ 8,100.
This collection highlights the brilliance, determination and humor of Hawking, who died in March 76 after spending a lifetime trying to unlock the secrets of the universe.
Hawking published his thesis in 1965, two years after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neuron disease that eventually left him paralyzed.
His first wife Jane typed 117 pages but he added two handwritten signatures and the words "This dissertation is my original work" in front, as well as some mathematical equations in it.
When the document was available online last year by Cambridge University, where Hawking spent his career, it was so popular that his website was destroyed.
CHRONICLE OF LIFE
A collection of medals and awards, including awards from the Royal Astronomical Society, sold for £ 296,750 (S $ 529,305.40), with the entire collection reaching $ 1,796,966.
"We are very pleased to have Christie's help to help us with the important issue of managing our beloved father's archive and his unique and valuable collection of personal and professional items, taking notes on his life and work," the daughter of physicist Lucy Hawking said before the sale.
"We also give admirers his work the opportunity to get a memento of our father's extraordinary life in the form of a small selection of evocative and interesting items."
The invitation he sent to a party held a few years earlier, a light experiment to see if there was travel time, appeared more than 10 times the pre-sale estimate was almost $ 130, while the bomber jacket he wore in the 2016 documentary made $ 51,912.
Items are only a small choice from the Hawking archives, whose families donate to the country in lieu of inheritance tax, even though there is no details about the place of storage.
The auction fund will go to the family even though the money obtained from the sale of wheelchairs will be donated to the Neurone Motor Disease Association and the Stephen Hawking Foundation.
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