Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jason Bye/REX/Shutterstock (3031245a) Professor Stephen Hawking Professor Stephen Hawking at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Britain - 19 Oct 2012 The world's most famous astrophysicist recently backed calls for the legalisation of assisted suicides. His previous stance had been opposed to the idea, having himself been in the position some years ago where his wife was given the choice of whether or not to turn off his life support system.