Lucy Hawking

Author Lucy Hawking makes science accessible and entertaining to young readers through her George book series of fantasy adventure novels based on real science. Written in collaboration with world-leading scientists including her father - the late Professor Stephen Hawking - the George series is published in over 40 languages. The final seventh book of the series, Unlocking the Universe, a compilation of the science content from the whole series with some outstanding new essays added, topped the bestseller lists in 2020.

In 2015, Lucy created the Principia Space Diary with Curved House Kids for the UK Space Agency, an innovative educational concept for primary students which allowed them to create their own book about Tim Peake's historic mission to the International Space Station. Principia Space Diary was shortlisted in 2017 for the Arthur C. Clarke award for Education and Outreach. With the same team, Lucy created the Your Mission - Mars Diary for primary age school children, published in 2018, also shortlisted for an Arthur C. Clarke award. As well as editing the text for her father's final publication, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, Lucy wrote the Afterword for the posthumous book and recorded the audio version for Audible and Radio 4. Lucy has also made documentaries for BBC Radio 4 about the impact of technology on different aspects of human life and the Audible Originals 'Lucy in the Sky', a series of eight podcasts about the future of the human race in space.

In 2008, Lucy won the Sappio Prize for Popularizing Science and in 2015, the UNSW medal for Outstanding Science Communication. Later that same year, Lucy was awarded an honorary doctorate in science by Queen Mary University London for her work in STEM education. In 2017, Lucy was a judge on the Royal Society's Young Science Book of the year and on the BAFTA judging panel for their Children's Awards. Lucy is a regular judge for the Breakthrough Junior Challenge in Palo Alto, USA.

With the Guardian Media Group, Lucy made a virtual reality film, 'The Party', about an autistic teenage girl which received huge critical acclaim for its realistic and authentic depiction of the experiences of a teenage girl with autism. Lucy is currently working with Atlantic Productions on a virtual reality experience based on black hole theory; she has also recently published two books in a new series for young readers, Princess Olivia Investigates. 

Lucy is the Chairperson of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and an Ambassador for the Autism Centre of Excellence at Cambridge University.