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A spectacular association copy, inscribed in the year of publication by way of a thumbprint to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who was a friend and crucial supporter of Hawking. Hawking's second wife provides a written inscription alongside the thumbprint, as of course Hawking was unable to write by hand due to his advanced ALS: "Gordon, with very many thanks for your continued interest and support, with warmest wishes, Stephen. Thumbprint certified by Elaine Hawking, Elaine Hawking [her signature], 16 November 2005, San Francisco." Uncommon or scarce signed. A powerful association because Hawking's computer and voice-synthesizing technology were substantially provided by Intel at Moore's directive. Gordon Moore holds an early and storied place in the history of computing and Silicon Valley. Aside from co-founding Intel along with two others, he is best known for "Moore's Law," his prediction that the number of transistors that could fit on a silicon chip would double every two years--a prediction that would hold up for decades. He also argued correctly that computers would become more and more expensive to create and yet cheaper on the market because so many would be sold. By 1980, Intel was the most successful semiconductor maker in the world and its microprocessors were found in 80 percent of computers. Moore was the chief executive from 1975-1987. He later became an important philanthropist, donating more than $5 billion via his foundation since 2000. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. The story of Moore's support of Hawking is a great one, as detailed at length by this 2015 WIRED article, "How Intel Gave Stephen Hawking a Voice." Intel began providing computers designed specifically for Hawking starting in 1997, but by 2011 Hawking's condition had changed to the point where he was able to write only a couple words per minute. He wrote to Moore: "My speech input is very, very slow these days. Is there any way Intel could help?" Moore tasked his Chief Technical Officer with coming to Hawking's aid, and Intel devoted an enormous amount of resources to troubleshooting Hawking's setup, initially sending a team of five to England to meet with Hawking and begin this work. One of them, Pete Denman, an interaction designer who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair himself, reflected: "After I broke my neck and became paralyzed, my mother gave me a copy of A Brief History of Time, which had just come out. She told me that people in wheelchairs can still do amazing things. Looking back, I realize how prophetic that was." Over years this Intel team and others at the company tested and refined a system and software that would increase Hawking's efficiency. Hawking ultimately communicated with one cheek muscle, flexing it to indicate which letter to type (as letters or words scrolled by, he chose one). Intel's major advances for him, among others, were in the area of predictive software, based on Hawking's own patterns of writing/speech, that allow him to choose likely words based on letters. See also this history from Intel of its relationship with Hawking. Stephen Hawking is considered one of the greatest physicists of our times, and his fame increased because of the enormous obstacles he overcame as a scientist and thinker in light of his ALS. "Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world," Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York,

In 'A Brief History of Time', Stephen Hawking attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes, and light cones to the non-specialized reader. His goal is to provide an overview of the history, laws, and major theories of the cosmos in a way that is accessible to the general public, without complex mathematical jargon.