Hawking to retire as Lucasian Professor

British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking will next year retire as Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position once held by Isaac Newton.it was policy for the title holder to retire at 67. Hawking, who has held the position since 1979 and has worked at Cambridge since 1962, will be 67 in January.The scientist, whose books including "A Brief History of Time" have sought to popularise study of stellar physics, will stay at the university but a new Lucasian professor will be appointed.Isaac Barrow became the first holder of the post in 1664, and notable successors have included Charles Babbage, Sir Joseph Larmor and Sir James Lighthill.Despite being almost completely paralysed by motor neurone disease, Prof Hawking became one of the world's leading experts on gravity, black holes, and the origins of the universe.