I do not care to delve into the personal life of all scientists, particularly physicists, who rarely opine on human nature. Hawking’s contributions to astrophysics and quantum physics are unrelated to his associations with shitty humans. In that arena, however, I do prefer Leonard Susskind over Hawking, in that Hawking’s fucking ego would not let him consider other positions related to certain topics. (In short, yes, he was a douche bag).

There’s an excellent book by Susskind called the Black Hole Wars about how he was right and Hawking was a dick when it came to how black holes consume objects and the data therein. Hawking eventually conceded to Susskind reluctantly after a few decades.

Minsky?