Stephen William Hawking, the former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, celebrates his 75th birthday on January 8. Hawking, who has been confined to a wheelchair due to an incurable motor neurone disease, is regarded as a genius of our day.
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The author of A Brief History of Time, which became an international bestseller, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease when he was 21 years old. At the time, doctors told him that he would live only for a few years. The professor will celebrate his 75th birthday on Sunday.
And to celebrate his 75th birthday here are a few of his inspirational quotes:
"The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away."
"My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn't prevent you doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in spirit, as well as physically."
"It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years."
"I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer."
"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first."
"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."
"Some people would claim that things like love, joy and beauty belong to a different category from science and can't be described in scientific terms, but I think they can now be explained by the theory of evolution."
"We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet."
"Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up."
"It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining."
"Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor."
"My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."
