Previously, to read Hawking's PhD in full, people had to pay £65 to the university library to scan a copy or physically go to the library to read it.

Cambridge University hopes to encourage its other former academics to make their work available to the public, like Prof Hawking has.

Dr Smith added: "Locking knowledge and information behind closed doors benefits no-one."


Comment: This is something You-Know-Who has never learned but they call it "compartmentalization." The classic example being the K-129 acoustic data which was locked away for 40 years.