system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Stephen Hawking's importance to society

Okay I feel like I should explain this a bit. This was just inspired by the topic that has a screenshot of two kids bashing Stephen Hawking. I think both of them are a pair of pricks since it seems like they really don't know what kind of person he is; most of the conversation was on their own speculation and it started getting ridiculous when they started to claim that global warming isn't real, but I digress. My point is, the more I really started to think about it, the more I'm genuinely wondering this question. I believed he helped develop the space program we currently have, and admittedly I still have a *lot* to learn about how far exactly we've come as a planet scientifically so I really am just wondering, but how is his contribution to science relevant? Again, I just want to clarify, totally sincere question here, I'm kind of behind on this kind of thing, but I really do want to learn.
gpt
I think you could argue that Stephen Hawking's biggest contribution to society has been his work as a popularizer of science, along the lines of Einstein, Sagan, etc. 

His books, articles, documentaries he participates in, etc, are often targeted at the general public in the hopes of educating the average joe about physics and the universe. His books can be a bit complicated, but they're written at a level a lot more people can understand than say an actual scientific paper on black holes.