His mum and dad played them opera music and told them all about astronomy, mathematics, music, religion and many other subjects.
Stephen was very curious and liked discovering things for himself, too.
“How does a clock keep time?” he thought one day.
“There's only one way to find out!”
He took the back off his father's alarm clock and discovered that there were lots of little gears inside that turned in a complicated pattern. Stephen was fascinated.
“So this gear turns against this one – but what does this spring do?”
He started taking bits
