And the numbers actually mean risk -- the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk -- and the interesting thing is the risk begins to occur even at relatively normal blood pressure readings. So the higher you go, the worse off you're going to be, from a blood pressure point of view.
Hawking went on to Cambridge to research cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole. In early 1963, just shy of his 21st birthday, Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was not expected to live more than two years. Completing his doctorate did not appear likely.
The Official Website. 1  Stephen Hawking is the former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and author of A Brief History of Time which was an international bestseller. 2  For the first time, Stephen Hawking turns his gaze inward for a revealing look at his own life and intellectual evolution.