1999 – The Simpsons

The thriving American sitcom debuted just one year after Hawking's best-selling book, but the physicist didn't make his way to the animated show until 1999.

The Briton lent his voice to four episodes of the show – first in They Saved Lisa's Brain, in which the middle Simpson child's Mensa group had taken control of the town but Hawking came out to break their fantasy that their utopia will never succeed.

The appearance earned Hawking big fandom, and he went on to reprise his role in three more episodes in what he called "the best thing on American television."

1993 – Star Trek: The Next Generation

In the finale of Season 6 of Next Generation, Hawking, Albert Einstein and Issac Newton appeared as holograms playing poker with Lt. Commander Data.

Hawking portrayed his own hologram for this episode, making him the only guest in any Star Trek series to play himself.

The physicist was a self-proclaimed "Star Trek" fan. When taking a tour of the set, he requested and was allowed to sit in the captain's chair of the Enterprise-D.