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Astrophysicist Hawking moved to specialist hospital
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-25 09:08

World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking -- author of science best-seller "A Brief History of Time" -- has been transferred to a specialist heart and lung hospital due to the effects of pneumonia.

Hawking, 62, who is wheelchair-bound due to the motor neurone disease he has suffered for more than 40 years, was moved to Papworth Hospital in Cambridge from a general hospital also in his home.

"He's stable and was brought in yesterday (Monday) morning," said a spokeswoman for Papworth, a centre of excellence in cardiac treatment.

Cambridge University, where Hawking is a mathematics professor, was unable to say why he had been moved but said he had initially gone to hospital "in relation to the pneumonia he was being treated for in December and January".

Police are currently investigating claims made by nurses looking after Hawking who allege that he had been physically abused by his wife, Elaine.

Last month the physicist issued a statement saying he "firmly and wholeheartedly" rejected the allegations, describing media reports of supposed assaults by his wife as "completely false".

"Brief History", which sold more than 10 million copies, made Hawking a millionaire and one of the most famous scientists on the planet.

When Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease while still a university undergraduate, his life expectancy was put at around two years, and he is one of the longest-surviving sufferers of the condition.

Despite his illness and his need to speak through an electronic voice box, Hawking has continued to tour the world, giving science lectures.

 
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