Stephen Hawking passed away this week at 76, and Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar playing the genius in The Theory of Everything, gave his condolences.

“We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet. My love and thoughts are with his extraordinary family,” Eddie said in a statement to Page Six.

Stephen was diagnosed with ALS at 22, and he was a fan of Eddie’s portrayal: “I thought Eddie Redmayne portrayed me very well in ‘The Theory of Everything’ movie,” he’d said on Facebook at the time. “He spent time with ALS sufferers so he could be authentic. At times, I thought he was me. Seeing the film has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life. Although I’m severely disabled, I have been successful in my scientific work. I travel widely and have been to Antarctica and Easter Island, down in a submarine and up on a zero gravity flight. One day I hope to go into space. I’ve been privileged to gain some understanding of the way the universe operates through my work. But it would be an empty universe indeed without the people that I love.”

A post shared by Sergey Artamonov (@evilandcynical) on Mar 14, 2018 at 8:28am PDT