He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS in 1963 aged 21, and when he lost the use of his limbs, the scientist was forced to train his mind to work in a new way, visualising problems to reach a solution as opposed to writing them.
Some of his colleagues have suggested that this way of thinking led to his greatest discoveries and work with black holes.
He explored the idea of how humans might harness the time distorting properties of black holes in order to time travel during the Discovery Channel's 'Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking'.
What Do You Think Of That Genius?
You Might Also Be Interested In

The Man Who Put the "Big" in "Big Bang": Alan Guth on Inflation

End of the world: Stephen Hawking’s prediction for humanity after solving ‘cosmic puzzle

10 Questions for Alan Guth, Pioneer of the Inflationary Model of the Universe

Alan Guth shares $1 million Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

Chris Hirata *05: Studying the Far Side of the Final Frontier
Yes, Stephen Hawking Lied To Us All About How Black Holes Decay

23 Surreal Facts About Salvador Dalí

How Thales of Miletus Changed the World

Tragic deaths in science: Ludwig Boltzmann — a mind in disorder

Jan Žižka at Grunwald: from mercenary to Czech national hero

Einstein's Childhood

Julius Caesar Summary and Study Guide
People Who Read This Article Also Read About...

Barbara McClintock on Defining the Unstable Genome

Henrietta Leavitt – Celebrating the Forgotten Astronomer

Is Fabiano Caruana the Next Bobby Fischer?

Dr. David Livingstone, a Bicentenary

The Self-Deception Destroying Maxims of Francois de La Rochefoucauld

How Did Alexander the Great Change the Course of History?

There shall be order. The legacy of Linnaeus in the age of molecular biology

Is teenage pianist Ariel Lanyi a ‘superhuman genius’?

A celebration of mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan

The brutal brilliance of Genghis Khan

Abdus Salam: The Muslim science genius forgotten by history

Benjamin Franklin: The Man Who Invented the American Dream