The family of the late physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has issued a statement to clarify a photograph of him that recently went viral. The image appeared in court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein released by the United States Department of Justice.Hawking died in March 2018 at the age of 76.In the image, he is seen smiling while seated between two women wearing bikinis. The picture was taken in 2006 at a hotel in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, where Hawking was attending a science conference sponsored by or associated with events connected to Epstein’s network of contacts.A spokesperson for Hawking’s family said the two women in the photo were his long‑term carers from the United Kingdom, not strangers or people with any connection to wrongdoing. They explained that Hawking lived with motor neurone disease (also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) for more than five decades, a condition that left him paralysed and dependent on full‑time medical care including assistance from carers, a ventilator, a voice synthesiser and a wheelchair.“Professor Hawking made some of the greatest contributions to physics in the 20th century while at the same time being the longest‑known survivor of motor neurone disease, a debilitating condition which left him reliant on a ventilator, voice synthesiser, wheelchair and round‑the‑clock medical care. Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far‑fetched in the extreme,” the family said. The photograph is part of a large batch of material released from the Epstein files, which contain millions of pages of documents, emails and other records connected to the now‑deceased pedophile’s activities. Hawking’s name shows up many times in the files, mostly in connection with his work and participation in academic events. His name being in the documents does not mean he did anything wrong or illegal.Hawking was among a group of prominent scientists invited to the 2006 science symposium, known as “Energy of Empty Space That Isn’t Zero,” where he gave a talk on quantum cosmology alongside other researchers. The visit included events in St Thomas and, reportedly, a trip to Epstein’s Little Saint James island, but Hawking and Epstein are not pictured together in any publicly released documents.Besides the photo with the two women, other images show Hawking at a barbecue and on a submarine trip during the same visit. Epstein had arranged changes to the submarine so Hawking could take part despite his disability.
