Stephen Hawking's jacket, high-tech thesis and wheelchair up for auction

Stephen Hawking was a cosmic visionary, a figure of inspiration and a global celebrity.

His unique status is reflected in an upcoming auction of some of the physicist's possessions: It includes complex scientific papers, one of the world's most iconic wheelchairs and a script from The Simpsons.

The online sale announced Monday by auction Christie's features 22 items from Hawking, including his doctoral thesis on the origins of the universe, some of his many awards, and scientific papers such as Spectrum of Wormholes and Fundamental Breakdown of Physics in Gravitational Collapse.

Thomas Venning, head of books and manuscripts at Christie's, said the papers "trace the development of his thought – this brilliant, electrifying intelligence."

"You can see it, and it's going to the scientific community," Venning said.

Of course, Hawking's fame rests only partly on his scientific status.

Diagnosed with motor neuron disease at 22 and given just a few years to live, he survived for decades, dying in March at 76.

Hawking's thesis for sale

The auction includes one of five copies of Hawking's 1965 Cambridge University Ph.D. thesis, Properties of Expanding Universes, Which carries an estimated price of £ 100,000 to £ 150,000 ($ 130,000 to $ 195,000 US).

Venning said the thesis, signed by Hawking in handwriting made by his illness, is both a key document in the physicist's scientific evolution and a glimpse into his personal story.

"He was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) just as he arrived in Cambridge to begin his Ph.D. studies," Venning said. "He gave up his studies for a time because he was so despondent.

The thesis "Venning said," and Hawking "kept it close to him for the rest of his life."

The disease eventually left Hawking almost completely paralyzed. He communicated through a voice-generating computer and moved into a series of high-tech wheelchairs. One is included, with an estimated price of £ 10,000 pounds to £ 15,000 pounds ($ 13,000 to $ 19,500 US). Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Venning said the wheelchair became a symbol of Hawking's disability but "puckish sense of humor." He has done the same to the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and appeared in a Monty Python skit running down fellow physicist Brian Cox.

The Simpson Hawking episode script

Venning said Hawking "very much thought of being a scientist first and a second communicator second," but accepted and even enjoyed his celebrity status. He appeared several times on an animated comedy show The Simpsons and kept a figurine of himself from the show in his office.

The sale includes a script from Hawking's Simpson's appearances, a copy of his bestseller A Brief History of Time signed with a thumbprint and a personalized bomber jacket that he wore in a documentary.

Hawking's daughter Lucy said the sale has "admirers of his work the chance to acquire a memento of our father's extraordinary life in the shape of a small selection of evocative and fascinating items."

Hawking's children hope to preserve their scientific archive for the nation. Christie's is handling negotiations in the United Kingdom in place of inheritance tax.

The items – part of a science that includes papers by Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein – will be on display in London for October 30. The auction is open for bids between Oct. 31 and Nov. 8.