Hawking suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
He irreversibly lost the ability to speak in 1985 after having a tube inserted into his windpipe during a bout of severe pneumonia and now communicates in instantly recognizable tones using an electronic speech synthesizer.
“Before I lost my voice, it was slurred, so only those close to me could understand [it]. But with the computer voice, I found I could give popular lectures,” Hawking said.
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“The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy. It brings us together in a peaceful loving state.”
The eminent thinker finished the tour by telling her that he hoped the objects he’d shown her would remind her to “hold on to that childlike wonder about what makes the universe exist.”
“Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet,” he said.
