A decade later, Einstein finished his general theory of relativity, which may be looked at in two ways: (1) it extends special relativity to include acceleration & (2) it acts as a theory of gravity. read more
Hawking and many others merely expanded on Einstein’s theories but Einstein was the one who revolutionized physics with his ideas in the first place. They aren’t really in the same category. Only a few times in history can we say a scientist completely upended our understanding of the world. read more