Stephen Hawking Told He Would Live Only 2-3 years When Diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease - Stephen Hawking’s IQ Is 160 (Photo) He Told He Would Live Only 2-3 Years When Diagnosed With Motor Neuron Disease—-Stephen Hawking’s IQ is 160 and he told that he has the diagnosis of motor neurone disease which came when Hawking was 21, shortly before his first marriage, and doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years. A motor neurone disease is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years. He is now almost completely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device. Hawking’s illness has progressed more slowly than typical cases of ALS: survival for more than 10 years after diagnosis is uncommon.
He describes himself as lucky, despite his disease. Its slow progression has allowed him time to make influential discoveries and has not hindered him from having, in his own words, a very attractive family.
Stephen Hawking, a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, was awarded in 2009 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Hawking has achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; these include A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times best-sellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.
