The famous British scientist and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has paid tribute to his Armenian teacher Dikran Tahta who inspired him to make his first steps in science, BBC reports.

According to Hawking, Dikran Tahta at St Albans School opened his eyes to maths, which he describes as the "blueprint of the universe".

"My handwriting was bad, and I could be lazy. Many teachers were boring. Not Mr Tahta," the famous physicist said.

The award-winning scientist has recorded a video highly appreciating the contribution of his teacher, who died in 2006.

"His classes were lively and exciting. Everything could be debated. Together we built my first computer. Thanks to Mr Tahta, I became a professor of mathematics at Cambridge, a position once held by Isaac Newton," Prof Hawking noted.

In his words, "behind every exceptional person, there is an exceptional teacher".

Hawking’s video message came ahead of the announcement of the Global Teacher Prize winner.