What college did Stephen Hawking attend at the University of Oxford?

Stephen Hawking attended University College at the University of Oxford. He began there in October 1959, aged 17, studying physics and chemistry before graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in physics.

Hawking’s choice of college was partly influenced by his father, Frank Hawking, who had also attended University College. Mathematics was not available there as a subject at the time, so Hawking studied physics instead, although his mathematical ability later became central to his work in cosmology and general relativity.

His undergraduate years were not a conventional portrait of nonstop study. Hawking later estimated that he studied about 1,000 hours during his three years at Oxford. He joined the University College Boat Club as a coxswain, developed a reputation for wit and rebelliousness, and found much of the academic work easy. A common mix-up is with Cambridge: after Oxford, he began graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he completed his doctorate in 1966.