Higher Education Minister Naledi Pandor has paid tribute to British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking who died early on Wednesday morning at the age of 76.
Hawking became one of the world’s most famous scientists after the publication of his book “A brief history of time” in the 1980s, which sold more than 10 million copies.
He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963.
Pandor says Hawking’s passing is a great loss to the science community.
She says, “It’s a very sad day and a great loss to humanity and particularly to the science community. I think for me what he represented was an example of the ingenuity of human beings and also he managed to tell us to get rid of the many prejudices that we have about persons who have disabilities.”
“He proved beyond doubt that talent exists everywhere,” adds Pandor.
Pandor was recently placed at the helm of the department at a crucial time where she has to oversee the implementation of fee free higher education for poor and deserving students as announced by the former President Jacob Zuma in December 2017.
The department has been allocated a total of R324 billion over the next three years including R57 billion to cover fee-free higher education.
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