His loving family

Stephen Hawking was a world-renowned scientist, and yet I knew him as my parents’ friend, way before he became famous. My father, the late Jamal Nazrul Islam, and my mother Suraiya, often called Steve and Jane, as we knew them, over to dinner at our home, 12 Bowers Croft, in Cambridge. They both used to love my mother's home cooked Bangladeshi food.

By the time I got a bit older, I was allowed to come down to dinner to meet my parents’ friends for a short while before going to bed. I remember how my father and I used to go to the car to ensure Steve didn’t have any problems with his wheelchair coming to our front door, as our garden had a slope. Steve didn’t have his digital voice then, though as the years went by his speech became less intelligible, and I couldn’t always fully understand what he said, but my father would often roar with laughter, as Steve was very witty and observant.

My sister and I used to go to their house too, down the road from Newnham college in Cambridge, which had a fabulous garden, trees with a lovely lawn, where I remember playing; perfect for us kids to run around. Their home was warm, full of laughter - with a lot of love.

I remember the time we were at a conference in Greganog, Mid Wales - I must have been about 9 or 10 years old. Robert, his son, who was my age, arranged for our families to go on a picnic as we all stayed at the beautiful stately home which was holding the conference. For us children, it was a holiday in wonderful lush scenery, with lot of trees and lakes set among the hills, where Robert had brought a small rubber dinghy for us all to try out on the lake. It was like a regular family holiday - as children of physicists would know - they don’t take normal holidays - unless it is at a conference or a place where they can talk shop (discuss physics!) with their peers!

My father was a theoretical physicist, fascinated by the early origins of the Universe, and its fate. I remember worrying when I was 6 or 7 years old about whether we had a shrinking or expanding universe, as my father had explained the basics to me of the theories that he was working on. My father would tell me of how Steve had defied the odds, when the doctors had only given him 2 years to live, and how Steve’s mind was sharp and brilliant. I knew that’s why he enjoyed talking to him so much, and I remember hearing them discuss cosmology.

That’s why I grew up with the knowledge that if one puts one mind to it, anything can be achieved, and that disability was not a barrier; that one of the world’s greatest minds had overcome his disabilities.

Jane sang beautifully, and they often had musical soirees at their home, where she would sing. I remember accompanying my parents a couple of times. My father also managed to get Jane to sing at our place a few times; my parents loved all kinds of music. Even though my parents had known Steve before his marriage, they grew very close to Jane too, and my mother and Jane had become very good friends. I always remember Jane as a very soft, kind-hearted person, yet she was a tower of strength for Steve for many years. Her steadfast support and his loving family played a huge role in what he was able to achieve.

Later on I remember my father telling me how Steve joked about the American accent on his voice piece, that he had used when it was no longer possible for him to speak.

His daughter Lucy and I went to the same school, Perse School in Cambridge; she was a couple of years below me. I met her years later, at Hay Festival in Wales. I was thrilled that she was now a children’s author, writing about science and the universe, with her father. She was trying to instill the wonder of science to a new generation of children.

The excitement of science - the pursuit of knowledge, and the curiosity to discover how the world and universe around us work - this passion and interest in science had been instilled in us by our fathers. I wanted her to help convey this feeling to our children, in Bangladesh. We re-connected, and I invited Lucy to Dhaka. She came in November 2014 to our lit fest. She met my mother, and brought a hand written note from her mother to mine. Lucy was overwhelmed by the response she received in Bangladesh, and couldn’t believe how she, a children's science writer, was treated like a rock star!

Steve Hawking achieved so much despite the challenges he faced, and left us with a lot to think about. His legacy is a true gift and inspiration, and I hope that inspires us to invest in Science, and encourage our children to be curious, and discover the wonder of science for themselves.

*Sadaf Saaz is a poet and director of Dhaka Lit Fest