British physicist

He passed away at the age of 76, BBC quoted a spokesman for his family as saying.

"He was a great scientist... whose work and legacy will live on for many years", his children said in a statement.

The Nobel Prize-winning author was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

One his popular science books is 'A Brief History of Time'.