World renowned physicists Stephen Hawking turned 71 on January 8th, with little fanfare in the media, something we expect Mr. Hawking appreciated. As it turns out, Intel decided that they wanted to present Hawking with a gift of their own.

Intel custom manufactured a one-off 300mm silicon wafer using the company's 32nm manufacturing process. Each die in the wafer has Hawking's name written thousands of times at the nano-scale level, making each letter more than 10 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Hawking, who is handicapped by a motor neuron disease, is recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time. Intel is working with him on improving his speech, and described him as "extraordinary". From all of us here at TweakTown, Happy Birthday Mr. Hawking, and thanks for your contributions to science.