Physicist Hawking to co-author new book

Stephen Hawking, the physicist who penned the bestselling A Brief History of Time, is to co-author a new book that will explore the origin of the universe and why it was created.

Hawking is to write The Grand Design with his co-author on the sequel A Briefer History of Time, fellow physicist Leonard Mlodinow, who has also been a scriptwriter on television series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and MacGyver.

Hawking,64, is aCambridge University professor.

Bantam Dell Publishing Group has slated The Grand Design for publication in two years.

A Brief History of Time has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and spent 72 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list after it was published in 1988.