Diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 1963, Hawking is featured in a clip from the 1984 CBC documentary series ‘Man Alive’ titled ‘Stephen Hawking’s Universe.’ At that time, he was not yet reliant on the synthesizer, and this rare footage has recently gained widespread attention. You can view it here:

This footage dates back to before Hawking’s 1985 tracheotomy, which resulted in the complete loss of his ability to speak verbally. By that time, his speech had already begun to decline, making it increasingly difficult to comprehend.

In the video, Hawking discusses a profound theory while a person next to him helps by repeating his words, as the MND caused his speech to be slurred.

“We all came out of singularity,” he states. “The big bang singularity, at the beginning of the universe.

“So it would not be that unnatural if we all ended up in another singularity.”

After viewing the video online, a fan commented: “His mind was so brilliant that even his body couldn’t keep pace with it.”

Another viewer delved deeper into his theory, remarking: “He’s talking about the initial singularity… He’s saying that we’re all going back to a singularity, meaning that in a gazillion years we’ll all be… non-existent. Which isn’t relevant. The point is knowing how and why you and I were here.”

A Twitter user expressed: “I always wondered if there was any surviving footage of his natural voice, so thank you for uploading this. What a fascinating find!”

“I am just shocked on how the interpreters were able to understand him,” another added.

On his official website, the theory is described as follows: “At this time, the Big Bang, all the matter in the universe, would have been on top of itself. The density would have been infinite. It would have been what is called, a singularity. At a singularity, all the laws of physics would have broken down.

“This means that the state of the universe, after the Big Bang, will not depend on anything that may have happened before.”

The explanation continued: “The no boundary hypothesis also predicts that the universe will eventually collapse again. However, the contracting phase, will not have the opposite arrow of time, to the expanding phase. So we will keep on getting older, and we won’t return to our youth.”

Born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, Hawking was the eldest of four children. He later became a father to three children: Lucy, Robert, and Timothy Hawking.

Before passing away in 2018, Hawking was highly esteemed for his contributions to the understanding of black holes and relativity.

As technology evolved, there were discussions about updating Hawking’s synthesizer with a new English accent. However, he declined, as he considered the original synthesizer voice to be an integral part of his identity and legacy.

Hawking preferred the American synthesizer voice, which was initially developed in the 1980s and modeled after the voice of its inventor, Dennis Klatt.