Apr 20 2009
Physicist Stephen Hawking Very Ill in Hospital with Chest Infection
- Physicist Stephen Hawking Very Ill in Hospital with Chest Infection -
In a statement released by Addenbrooke’s University Hospital, Cambridge, it was stated that Stephen Hawking, British theoretical physicist, and Author, 67, who has recently returned from the United States of America, has been admitted to hospital and is “very ill” and fighting a chest infection.
Hawking suffers from and is severely disabled by a strain of motor neuron disease which is called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more specific, Spinal Muscular Atrophy type IV.
He was first diagnosed with the illness after successfully gaining his BA degree from Oxford University, in 1962.
He then left for Trinity Hall, Cambridge to study cosmology and theoretical astronomy. It was here that the symptoms of his illness started to surface aggressively.
After diagnosis, he was told by specialists that he had only have 3 years to live. The progression of the ALS saw Hawkin gradually lose the use of his arms and legs and rendered him virtually inaudible.
His almost complete paralysis saw him confined to a wheelchair and in 1985 after contracting pneumonia; his limited respiratory capacity saw the total loss of his voice.
He received an emergency tracheotomy, and was fitted with an electronic voice synthesizer with an American accent and a predictive text system which is activated from a computer by small movements of his body.
Two years ago on his 65th birthday, Hawking took a zero-gravity flight, making him the first quadriplegic to float in zero-gravity.
When asked why he wanted to do it, Hawking replied: “I am doing it for many reasons. First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers.
I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space”.
“I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone next thousand, or million.”
Hawkings received global acclaim with the publication of his book “A Brief History of Time,” in 1988. The book charts his theory on the origins of the universe.
He is undergoing medical tests and his condition is being monitored overnight. He is said to be “comfortable” and all being well he hopes to be able to leave the hospital and go home quite soon.
‘Stephen Hawking was elected as one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society in 1974, was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, and became a Companion of Honour in 1989. Hawking is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’. wikepedia
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I hope he’s feeling a bit better soon. It must be horrible having a chest infection on top of everything else that he has to put up with. I don’t think I could cope without the use of my arms and legs, but to lose the voice as well; I just can’t begin to imagine how frustrating that must be for him. To be able to carry out all of those functions, and then to lose them.
I’m glad his condition is comfortable, and as I said before; hopefully things will clear up a bit for him soon.
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