The Big Bang Theory cast pay tribute to Stephen Hawking

'Not only your brilliance, but your sense of humour will be sorely missed by all'

The cast of The Big Bang Theory have paid tribute to Stephen Hawking, who has died aged 76.

The famed scientist had a cameo on the long-running American sitcom, in the episode entitled "The Hawking Excitation", which saw him review Sheldon (Jim Parsons)'s paper on the Higgs boson, noting: "You made an arithmetic mistake on page two. It was quite the boner."

His voice also appeared in "The Extract Obliteration", in which Hawking accepted a request by Sheldon to join him in the popular online game, Words With Friends.

Parsons shared a photo of Hawking and the show's cast on set, captioned simply with: "Thank you, Stephen Hawking."

Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, also shared the photo on Instagram. "It was truly such an honour to work with the incredible Stephen Hawking," she wrote. "He made us laugh and we made him laugh. His life and career workings have been many a subject matter on The Big Bang Theory and we are all better for it."

"You will be missed but the world is grateful for the knowledge and courage you leave in your path. Thank you for being an inspiration to everyone."

"Not only your brilliance, but your sense of humour will be sorely missed by all," Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, wrote. Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy, added: "As we near Pi day (3.14) I join the global community in mourning the loss of the greatest physicist of our era."

"Stephen Hawking is free from the physical constraints of this earthly condition we all exist in and he is soaring above us now marvelling at it all."

Hawking's family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming he'd passed away in his home in Cambridge, including words from his children - Lucy, Robert, and Tim - which read: "He once said: ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever."

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