Stephen Hawking wasn’t always confined to a wheelchair, with no voice of his own. Until he was 21, he lived the same life as so many of us do. Then, in his final year at Oxford, his coordination started to deteriorate, he got clumsy, his speech started to slur. At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, a degenerative disease where the neurons that communicate between your muscles and your brain stop working. There is no cure. This disease only gets worse, taking everything away from you. He was given two years to live. That was over 55 years ago.
Despite this terrible, unforgiving disease, Stephen Hawking went on to have an extraordinary career in math and physics, all while ALS continued to take away his ability to move, and even speak. It got worse. He came down with pneumonia and doctors urged his wife to take him off life support. She refused, and they performed a tracheotomy, completely removing his ability to speak.
At this point, Stephen Hawking had so many reasons to give up, and most people in his position would have. They’d complain about how unfair life was. They’d accept the story in front of them. But Stephen didn’t. He was bound to a wheelchair, only able to speak through a voice synthesizer. And because of his courage, his persistence and his passion for the universe, Stephen continued to explore the cosmos.
What he accomplished is unbelievable, and he did it despite the many barriers standing in his way. No matter your perceived limitations, there’s probably someone out there with even more of the deck stacked against them, who are making an even bigger impact on the world. Stephen Hawking was a limitless mind in a limited body. Join me in remembering this extraordinary person. May he rest in peace, and, hopefully, every question he asked of the universe has now been answered.