Deteriorating condition: Stephen Hawking delivering a lecture about the imperative to explore space in April 2008, at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Credit: AFP/NASA
Hawking has always insisted he is determined not to let his physical condition get in the way of his work, in which he specialised in theoretical physics and quantum gravity.
"I try to lead as normal a life as possible and not think about my condition or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many," he once said.
Divorce controversy
He found himself in the media spotlight for a different reason after leaving his wife and setting up house with one of his nurses, Elaine Mason, who he married in 1995.
In 2000 and 2004, police investigated allegations that Hawking had suffered mysterious assaults, but he denied this and called it a "non-story".
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Discovery Channel would screen Stephen Hawking's Universe, a new three-part special exploring the nature of the cosmos, to be screened in 2010.
Hawking is due to retire as Lucasian professor at Cambridge this year, while staying on in a different role.
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