Why is Stephen Hawkins paralyzed?

Question

Just wondering...

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Haw...

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 to Frank Hawking, a research biologist, and Isobel Hawking. He had two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward. Though Hawking’s parents had their home in North London, they moved to Oxford while Isobel was pregnant with Stephen, desiring a safer location for the birth of their first child (London was under attack at the time by the Luftwaffe). In 1950, Hawking and his family moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire where he attended St Albans High School for Girls between 1950 to 1953. Unlike today, boys were educated at that time at the Girls school until the age of 10.

     Always interested in science, he enrolled at University College, Oxford with the intent of studying mathematics, although his father preferred he go into medicine. Since mathematics was not offered at University College, Hawking instead chose physics. His interests during this time were in thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. His physics tutor, Robert Berman, later said in the New York Times Magazine, "“It was only necessary for him to know that something could be done, and he could do it without looking to see how other people did it." He didn’t have very many books, and he didn’t take notes. Of course, his mind was completely different from all of his contemporaries. "He was passing with his fellow students, but his unimpressive study habits gave him a final examination score on the borderline between first and second class honours, making an “oral examination” necessary,". Berman said of the oral examination, “And of course the examiners then were intelligent enough to realize they were talking to someone far more clever than most of themselves.

     After receiving his B.A. degree at Oxford University in 1962, he stayed to study astronomy. He decided to leave when he found that studying sunspots, which was all the observatory was equipped for, did not appeal to him and that he was more interested in theory than in observation.  He left Oxford for Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he engaged in the study of theoretical astronomy and cosmology. Almost as soon as he arrived at Cambridge, he started developing symptoms of AMYOTROPHIC  LATERAL  SCLEROSIS (colloquially known as Lou Gehrig's disease), a type of motor neuron disease which would cost him the loss of almost all neuromuscular control.  During his first two years at Cambridge, he did not distinguish himself, but, after the disease had stabilized and with the help of his doctoral tutor, Dennis William Sciama, he returned to working on his Ph.D. Stephen revealed that he did not see much point in obtaining a doctorate if he was to die soon.  Hawking later said that the real turning point was his 1965 marriage to Jane Wilde, a language student.

     Jane Hawking, nee Wilde, Hawking's first wife, with whom he had three children, cared for him until 1991 when the couple separated, reportedly due to the pressures of fame and his increasing disability. Hawking married his nurse, Elaine Mason ,  the previous wife of David Mason who designed  the first version of Hawking's talking computer, in 1995. In October 2006, Hawking filed for divorce.

     In 1999, Jane Hawking published a memoir, "Music to Move the Stars", detailing her own long-term relationship with a family friend whom she later married. Hawking's daughter Lucy Hawking is a novelist. Their son Robert Hawking emigrated to the United States, married, and has one child, George Edward Hawking. Reportedly, Hawking and his first family were reconciled in 2007.

     At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8, 2007, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight in 2007 to prepare for a sub-orbital spaceflight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Stephen Hawking’s zero-gravity flight in a “Vomit Comet” of Zero Gravity Corporation, during which he experienced weightlessness eight times, took place on April 26, 2007--the first quadriplegic to float free in a weightless state. This was the first time in 40 years that he moved freely beyond the confines of his wheelchair. The fee is normally $3,750 for 10-15 plunges, but Hawking was not required to pay the fee (it was paid by billionaire Richard Branson, and cost $100,000).

     He said, "“Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. 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 global warming, 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.”"

Answer 2

not really the lou gehrig's disease does something to his bones i guess it paralyzez his bones and mucles so he cant use them

Answer 3

Hes been paralyzed by Lou Gehrig's disease

Answer 4

I don't know whether the information is on here, it might help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_haw...