Hawking files for divorce

Stephen Hawking, best-selling author of "A Brief History of Time," and his wife have filed for divorce in England.

Hawking, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, was married for 11 years to Elaine Hawking, the (London) Telegraph said. It was his second marriage.

Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral scelrosis -- better known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- works at Cambridge University's department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics. He is scheduled to star in a movie about his ideas on the origins of the universe.

Hawking is a theoretical physicist and has made important contribution in the field of quantum physics. His "A Brief History of Time," an attempt to make subjects such as the big bang and black holes understandably to average readers, set a record for weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list.

Hawking and his first wife, were married for 26 years and had three children. That marriage also ended in divorce.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International