Q: What was it like growing up as the daughter of the world’s most famous physicist?

A: When I was young, he wasn’t the world’s most famous physicist. The fame didn’t arrive until the publication of “A Brief History of Time,” by which time I was in my late teens. When I was a child, he was well known among physicists, but they are a fairly select, serious bunch, not much given to celebrity idolizing.

What was most striking was the high level of attention his electric wheelchair attracted. I suppose that in the 1970s, it was quite unusual to see a disabled person drive himself around in a wheelchair. People really did stop and stare. (He did drive his chair extremely fast and sometimes in a rather perilous fashion.) I’m so glad that these days, disabled access is so much better and that disabled people are treated with more dignity by the general public. One big contribution my father has made is to show that having a disability does not bar you from leading a full and eventful life. His recent Zero Gravity flight and plans to go into space show that the sky is literally the limit, as far as he is concerned!

A: No. From an early age, it was clear that my interests lay in the arts. My earliest ambition was to be a ballerina, but I was a bit small and round and prone to giggling too much — I lacked the necessary elegance to pull that one off! I think my dad would have been pleased if I had turned out a scientist because he truly believes that is the most interesting career open to anyone. But he also believes that you have to follow your own path in life and so he certainly wasn’t going to push me toward theoretical physics when it didn’t look like I was going in that direction naturally.

Q: You’ve recently had some exciting experiences on a tour of the U.S.?

A: I’ve just been on a research trip to the U.S., looking into ideas and material for the second book. I was very lucky to have some great experiences — I watched the space shuttle launch in Florida, which was just extraordinary. As you watch the shuttle lift from the ground, you see this incredibly bright light underneath it, brighter than anything you’ve ever seen before. But for the first few seconds, the launch seems to be completely silent and it’s such a serene event. Then the noise comes toward you and it’s so intense that your chest pounds, buildings shake and the air crackles. I was surprised by how emotional I felt afterward. I looked up into the sky and there was a very strange heart-shaped cloud formation, way up high. It made me want to cry but not from sadness, just from feeling overwhelmed.

As if that wasn’t enough, the next day I took a zero gravity flight with the Zero Gravity Corporation (who else?) from the Kennedy Space Center. It was the most fun I’ve had since I was 5 years old — floating in zero gravity is just hilarious — you cannot stop laughing! Somehow, you think it might be quite scary to go from zero gravity to high gravity within seconds. But it felt so natural and was so much fun! They gave me a blue flight suit to take home with me. I’m going to be wearing it to parties.

Q: What’s next for you and your father?

A: Next for me is writing the second book, which will focus on space travel. For my dad, a ride on Virgin Galactic! So you could say we are a pretty space-age family these days.

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