Stephen Hawking, born in 1942, was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21. He was told not to expect to live more than just a few years, as the typical life expectancy is three to five years after diagnosis. Despite all odds, he was able to finish his education (Oxford), obtained a Ph.D. (Cambridge), revolutionized physics, won dozen of prizes, wrote many amazing and popular books, and had three children and two wives (and lovers). He died in 2018 at the age of 76, and his ashes are interred between Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey. ¹⁾

During an interview at Cambridge University in 2004, a camera operator pulled a cable from a socket in the studio, triggering an alarm. Hawking slumped forward in his chair and the crew rushed to him, concerned that his life support had been disconnected. When they reached his chair, the crew found Hawking laughing at his own joke and discovered that the alarm was from a computer losing its power supply. ²⁾