At which Cambridge college did Hawking begin graduate work in 1962?

Stephen Hawking began his graduate work in 1962 at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

He had first studied physics at University College, Oxford, earning a first-class degree. After completing that undergraduate work, he moved to Cambridge in October 1962 to study cosmology and general relativity. Trinity Hall was therefore the Cambridge college associated with the beginning of his doctoral career, not the college where he completed his undergraduate studies.

At Cambridge, Hawking worked under Dennis Sciama, an influential relativist and cosmologist. Hawking’s research focused on singularities, the behavior of expanding universes, and the foundations of general relativity. He received his PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics in 1966.

A common mix-up is confusing Trinity Hall with Trinity College, a separate Cambridge institution. Hawking later became one of Cambridge’s most prominent scientists and held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics from 1979 to 2009, but his graduate beginning was specifically at Trinity Hall.