physics and cosmology, and must have sensed that a cameo from him might drive more casual fans toward sharing that passion. It was a net win for science!

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There is less doubt about whether the peerless physicist was a fan of Matt Groening. Hawking appeared on The Simpsons no less than four times, he cameo’d on Futurama the show, as well as a June 2017 ad for a Futurama video game, and he once presented Matt Groening with a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards in 2004.

Hawking also selectively chose a few talk show appearances, including a surprise phone call to Jim Carrey when the latter was guesting on Conan, and a funny informative interview with John Oliver in 2014.

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In 2014, the cosmologist’s famously electronic vocal stylingswere sampled on a Pink Floyd album (for the second time), and then the following year they landed in an even less likely place: a song with Monty Python. “The Galaxy Song” originally appeared in a key scene of the 1983 Python film The Meaning of Life, but the legendary comedy troupe performed a reconfigured version of the tune on its Live (mostly) tour, with Hawking lending his (famously electronic) pipes.

Finally, you might not think one of the greatest minds in the universe would have time to participate in viral video phenomena like the Ice Bucket Challenge, but Hawking had a good reason for doing so. The challenge was meant to raise awareness for ALS, and Hawking is perhaps the most famous person to suffer from the disease.

RIP