Judith Croasdell, Personal Assistant to Professor Stephen Hawking
The purpose of the Personal Assistant is to make it possible for Professor Hawking to do his work and communicate his requirements to the world, to his colleagues and graduate students. The job is very busy and also includes:
First stop for anyone wanting to communicate with Professor Hawking
Organise Professor Hawking’s national and international travel – in tandem with the GA
Manage media requests and keep database of Q & A’s
Manage national and international contracts, negotiate fees
Collaborate with publishers and publishers agents
Assist Prof. Hawking’s graduate students
Collaborate with the many charities (of which Prof. Hawking is Patron)
Answering inquiries from the public and managing correspondence
The PA has the task of advertising and assisting with the search for the GA when the 12 month contract (or extended contract) has expired.
The PA is an administrative post funded by the University of Cambridge.
Please could anyone who has worked in the role of PA/Secretary to Professor Hawking get in contact with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and give me your dates and a short description of your time in Silver Street (the old location) or the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. It would be wonderful to hear from you!
Many people have yet to be added to the list below:
2004 – Present, Judith Croasdell
Karen Sime*
Sue Masey
Judy Fella
Ann Ralph
1988? Rachel Billington
* Karen wrote an entertaining piece on the move from Silver Street to CMS - see December 2000 Asymptopia Newsletter [below is the link]:
http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/friends/newsletters/
Working for Professor Hawking has changed so much with the advent of technology, email dominates and the old ways of working on a typewriter have long since gone. Those secretaries who worked in Silver Street with Prof. Hawking on "A Brief History of Time" Judy Fella, Ann Ralph, Cheryl Billington and Sue Masey will remember what it was like preparing the book for publication and I am sure they have some stories to tell of the GA's they worked with and how Professor Hawking was communicating. Do get in touch so that I can add your insights.
Personal Assistant to Professor Hawking: Judith Croasdell
I have been asked to write something about myself in order to give the reader some idea of what my job has entailed since joining in 2004.
Although a degree is not a requirement, I have a Bachelor of Divinity Degree from the South Pacific and am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. I have lived for many years in Fiji, I have also lived in the Middle East and travelled for a year in East Africa.
Started work as PA: Monday 8th November 2004
At my interview I was told "the PA doesn't travel". I remember thinking "what a pity" and then a few months later (April 2005) was asked to accompany Prof. Hawking to Asturias. He had been invited to give a lecture at the 25th Anniversary of the Prince of Asturias Awards and meet Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia. He also met the then, new Prime Minister of Spain, Zapatero. We returned to Cambridge in a private jet. Since then, I have travelled to several destinations in Europe, Hong Kong, Beijing, Israel and Palestine, S. Africa, Chile and Easter Island to name but a few. The best aspects of the trips are meeting our fabulous and generous hosts and working with them to ensure a successful visit.
[below] JC about to catch the plane in January 2008 to Valdivia in Chile. This was the Chilean Navy aircraft, that flew Professor Stephen Hawking to Valdivia from Santiago, on the occasion of Professor Claudio Bunster's Physics Fest. Note: This plane also flew Professor Hawking to the Antarctic in 1998.
photo: courtesy of GA, Sam Blackburn
Spectacular travel location: Easter Island in January 2008. Seminal trip for an ex-Pacific Islander having lived in Fiji for 11 years. Professor Hawking was able to get close to some of the statues.
Hardest trips: Hong Kong in 2006 and Santiago de Compostela 2008 - intense media interest. This was the trip that saw Lucy Hawking first working with her father on the famous "George" books.
Lone Recces: Santiago de Compostela in Spain 2008 / The Vatican, Rome 2008 (both good fun )
Best helicopter flight: Flying over Cape Town May 2008
Best private jet flight: Flying back to Cambridge from Asturias April 2005
Lifelong ambition: Visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing and walking along the Great Wall of China
Most frustrating moment: Observing Nelson Mandela's shadow a few feet away through frosted glass doors but not being able to see or hear him, despite being at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburgh (2008).
Seminal moment: April 2007. Setting up the zero-gravity trip with Peter Diamandis and then seeing an ecstatic Stephen Hawking (the boss!) floating in the Zero-Gravity Corporation comet on TV and on every news bulletin.
Part of the job: Having a database of up-to-date Hawking answers which allow us to stem the avalanche of media requests, but woe betide putting the wrong answer to the wrong question.
Graduate Assistants I have worked with:
Tom Pelly
David Pond
Sam Blackburn (current)
When I first worked with Prof. Hawking, he was using the hand switch in his left hand. The GA was the redoubtable Tom Pelly. In 2005, the able David Pond stepped into Tom's shoes. It was during David's time that Prof. Hawking moved on to the blink switch. When David's time ended, advertising for a new GA became a matter of intense media interest. Wading through the hundreds of applications there was one which kept bubbling to the surface. 2007 saw Sam Blackburn step into the breech. He of electronic fame, proved himself by constructing a miniature version of the Corpus Christi clock out of paper clips and bits!
General: PHD students
It has been a privilege to get to know some of Prof. Hawking's PhD students. celebrate their vivas and eventually, see them emerge with bound copies of their PhDs. I doubt if I will ever get my head around the subjects they write about, anything from Black Holes on the brane, to Toroidal Orientifolds. The language is fantastic.
The office is always very busy, priorities always dominate and no two days are ever the same.
Some future events (not including travels):
- Launch of Tai-Shan Schierenberg portrait at Royal Sociey
- Preparing Prof. Hawking for an oribital flight with Richard Branson
- Launch of "The Grand Design"
- Working on a major TV series (no details until 2010)
- Presidential Medal of Freedom
Keeping abreast of the enormous fan mail. Apologies to all fans who have not received an acknowledgement. Please note that owing to the huge volume of correspondence it is not always possible to respond. All letters are read and logged. As are, papers, books and miscellaneous articles.
[Below] Rome Recce - October 2008 - JC Waiting for Pope Benedict to drive past
Photograph: courtesy of Gabriella
Below: Prof. Hawking with Prof. Bunster meeting the Prime Minister of Chile, Michelle Bachelet
Vivian, Pancho, Mark, Prof. Bunster, Sam, Pete, SWH, self, The President, Nikki
Photo: courtesy of the Office of the President of Chile
Prof. Hawking is now back in Cambridge after 2 months in the U.S.
Monday 20 July 2009
It was a fairly quiet afternoon in DAMTP when Lisa Brown, the Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary to The White House phoned the office. An ordinary day suddenly turned into an extraordinary one when she announced that President Obama would like to award Stephen Hawking the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He flew to Washington on the 10th, received the medal on the 12th and returned to Cambridge on the 18th August. Photograph of Stephen Hawking with the President of the United States and the First Lady - on website.
Wednesday 23 September 2009
DAMTP Jubilee Reception at Centre for Mathematical Sciences
The Head of Department, Prof. Peter Haynes presented Prof. Hawking with the gift of a metalwork clock - in keeping with the theme of time - to mark his membership of the Department since 1962. Prof. Hawking will continue as usual, with a new title 'Director of Research'.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Professor Hawking's last day as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
January 2010
Professor Hawking's official title is now:
Director of Research, Centre for Theoretical Cosmology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge.
February 27th 2010
Prof. Hawking was presented with the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science, by the California-based Planetary Society. The ceremony was held at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge. The Cosmos Award, is named after the television series of the same name created by Planetary Society co-founder Carl Sagan who wrote the Introduction to "A Brief History of Time".
Judith Croasdell
