JOHANNESBURG: Scientist Stephen Hawking hailed the peaceful end of South Africa’s apartheid era as one of the great achievements of his lifetime on Thursday as he met the first black president Nelson Mandela.

“I am very pleased to meet you. I admire how you managed to find a peaceful solution to a situation that seemed doomed to disaster,” the British astrophysicist told Mandela who stood down as president nine years ago.

“It was one of the great achievements of the 20th century. If only the Israelis and the Palestinians could do the same.”

Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, was in South Africa for the launch of the Next Einstein initiative which is designed to unearth budding scientists and mathematicians throughout Africa.

Mandela and the last white president FW de Klerk were both awarded the Nobel peace prize for their negotiations that led to the elections.

The 66-year-old Hawking was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting motor neuron disease at the age of 22. He is in a wheelchair and speaks with the aid of a computer and voice synthesizer.—AFP