He can’t die yet! He needs to do a cameo on Big Bang Theory!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30323352/
Sounds like he’s doing better, and his family is now expecting him to recover.
That’s good news, for sure.
I don’t know why this news affects me like this – it’s not like we haven’t had Hawking longer than we deserve – but I’m glad he seems better. When he does pass, it will leave a howling black hole in our public life.
Looking at him with his assistive devices makes me think of all the people who had his condition in past centuries; we have no idea what they thought or could have contributed.
I got to meet/see him once. A friend of mine was thinking about transferring to Cal Tech and I went with him on the campus tour. Our tour group passed a man in a wheel chair with a nurse sitting out in the sun. No one else noticed but we went over and asked his nurse if we could get a picture. For some reason he didn’t have his voice computer with him and was just out to enjoy a little sun. She looked at him and said it would be ok. Unfortunately, my buddy has the picture.