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Summary Hawking is honoured for his breakthroughs into theories of time and relativity.
The worlds most widely recognised living scientist Stephen Hawking was too ill to attend his 70th birthday celebrations on Sunday but was hailed by colleagues as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein.Hawking, the author of the international bestseller A Brief History of Time in 1988, was honoured for his breakthroughs into theories of time and relativity, but also for his ability to make complex science accessible.At a birthday symposium for the scientist, who was diagnosed with motorneuron disease in 1963 and told he had barely two years to live, Britains astronomer royal said Hawking had defied medical and scientific odds. The head of his eliteCambridge University said he had changed our perception of the universe.Its wonderful that we are celebrating Stephens 70th birthday. Its a chance to thank him for the many insights hes given us about the universe, and ... for the inspiration hes offered to millions by achieving so much against all the odds, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees told an audience of scientists, students and reporters.Hawking had been due to speak on Sunday at Cambridge, where as an undergraduate he first became fascinated with cosmology and the state of the universe, but colleagues said he was too poorly to attend.Hawking had recently been in hospital and was discharged on Jan. 6, Cambridges Vice-Chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz said.
