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.
And since 1985 he has had to speak through his trademark computer systemâwhich he operates with his cheekâand have around-the-clock care. But his disease seems hardly to have slowed him down. Hawking spent 30 years as a full professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge. And he is currently the director of research at the school's Center for Theoretical Cosmology. But like his mind, Hawking's illness seems to be singular. Most patients with ALS âalso known as Lou Gehrig's disease, for the famous baseball player who succumbed to the diseaseâare diagnosed after the age of 50 and die within five years of their diagnosis.