Stephen Hawking, The Physicist Who Defied His ALS Diagnosis

Stephen Hawking never let his disability, caused by a rare motor neuron disease, define him.

At the age of 21, a brilliant student studying at Oxford, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with a rare motor neuron disease. He was given 2 years to live. Stephen Hawking died at the age of 76, a man who had transformed theoretical physics and challenged notions of disability.

Hawking had a rare early-onset form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease or Lou Gehrig's disease.

For much of his public life, he was confined to a wheelchair and since 1985, spoke with the help of a voice system following a tracheotomy, something he operated with his cheek.

Hawking’s condition was rare. Most patients with ALS are diagnosed after 50 and die within 5 years.