Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

Scientist Stephen Hawking Moved to Specialist Hospital (click here for full story)

“He was transferred yesterday from Addenbrookes Hospital and he is stable,” said a spokeswoman for Papworth. She declined to give further details. Police are also separately investigating allegations of an assault on the 62-year-old. “We still want to speak to him and we are continuing to speak with the people who provided the information,” a spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said Tuesday. The Daily Mirror newspaper reported in January that his three children were worried he was being harmed by someone suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, a disease where sufferers hurt others to draw attention to themselves…”

Stephen Hawking is widely considered to be the most likely successor to Einstein. Hawking is perhaps best known for his 1974 discovery that black holes emit radiation, and for his “no boundary proposal” made in 1983, in collaboration with Jim Hartle of Santa Barbara, CA. He holds the Lucasian Chair in theoretical physics at Cambridge University, in direct line of succession from Sir Issac Newton, its second holder, and notable for being born exactly 300 years after Newton. Professor Hawking suffers from motor neurone (Lou Gherig’s) disease and is confined to a wheelchair. The thought that anyone would abuse a person under such circumstances is deeply disturbing.

When I lived in Cambridge in the 1980’s, Hawking was a familiar sight terrorizing the University byways in his motorized wheelchair. He was often to be found holding court in The Eagle pub - made famous by Francis Crick and James Watson when they literally discovered DNA over a pint there. Or at The Bath pub which sold Pizza Hut pizzas the students inhaled…but that had nothing to do with Hawking’s patronage. [*wink*] Always a gaggle of adoring students around him, Hawking was generous with his time as a faculty advisor. It is indeed sad to hear that one of the most celebrated scientists of our time has potentially fallen victim to what in social services we used to call an “indoor stalker”. Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy is brutal on the victims of its sufferers. Most cases you see are perpetrated by mothers on very young children up to six or seven years old, but MSBP is not unknown in caretakers of the disabled and frail elderly as well.

If you can spare it, send some good healing vibes to Steve, over in the heart & lung hospital in Papworth - a little town about ten miles outside Cambridge city. He’s working on some of the most complex problems in science - it would be nice if he had the time and comfort to finish his life’s work before someone goes too far and finishes his life for him. Spare a prayer too for whomever the perp is. Whoever that person is, they need help and healing just as much as Dr. Hawking. And if you haven’t read his Brief History of Time yet, you need to get it post haste. Good stuff, Maynard.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2004 at 2:24 am and is filed under Books, Current Affairs, Practical Magic, Science, Wonderful People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.