Famed British theoretical physicist and author Stephen Hawking has been
rushed to a Cambridge hospital and is reported seriously ill.
Cambridge
University said Hawking, who is wheelchair-bound and almost entirely
paralyzed, was under treatment Monday for a serious chest infection.
He has previously been treated for pneumonia. University officials say
he has been ill for several weeks and was undergoing a battery of tests
at a local hospital.
Hawking, 67, is revered for his work on
celestial black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity. He reached
celebrity status with the 1988 publication of A Brief History of
Time, a spellbinding account of the origins of the universe.
The
scientist was diagnosed at age 21 with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) and has for years communicated through a voice synthesizer
activated by his fingers.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.