Stephen Hawking

At Cambridge
The young Hawking (seen here in a 1983 photo) studied Physics at University College, Oxford before enrolling at the University of Cambridge to pursue a Ph.D. It was at Cambridge that he first developed symptoms of ALS, the debilitating motor neuron disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Although ALS would eventually render Hawking a quadriplegic, his mind remains a sharp instrument of science and logic. In 1979, Hawking was honored as Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a prestigious academic post once held by Sir Isaac Newton.