Obituaries can popularize science and health: Stephen Hawking and interest in cosmology and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Obituaries are an understudied form of popular media culture. Well-known scientists can inspire the general public to learn more about their field of study, and such exposure can occur posthumously through obituaries and related press coverage of a scientist’s passing. In the current studies, we examined the influence of physicist Stephen Hawking’s death on public interest in science topics related to his work. We also examined whether the representation of male versus female physicists quoted in the obituary increased perceptions of gender equity in science. Study 1 found that reading Hawking’s obituary increased interest in both physics and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis but that the number of female physicists quoted did not affect interest levels. Study 2 showed that following Hawking’s death, there was a marked increase in Wikipedia page views on related topics in cosmology (but not necessarily other areas of physics) and on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Taken together, the present research shows the influence of obituaries on public attention, as well as the outsized influence that Hawking has had on public interest in science, even in death.