Stephen Hawking misses 70th birthday party through illness

British cosmologist Stephen Hawking has been forced to miss a symposium to mark his 70th birthday because of ill-health.

He was due to attend a science conference at Cambridge University’s Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, but instead had to make do with watching events unfold on the internet.

The audience, which included leading scientists, were told by Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, that Prof Hawking was too ill to attend and that the physicist, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease aged 21, would be watching the event via webcast.

His pre-recorded talk, called A Brief History of Mine, was played in his absence.

Entitled The State of the Universe, the symposium yesterday celebrated how Prof Hawking went on to become one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. Speakers included Astronomer Royal Lord Rees, Prof Saul Perlmutter and one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Prof Kip Thorne.

Given only two years to live when he was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease in 1963, Prof Hawking has defied medical expectation.

Lord Rees spoke of his admiration for Prof Hawking before the event, commenting on his great feat of reaching the age of 70 after “tragedy struck” and he was diagnosed with a deadly illness. He said: “Even mere survival would have been a medical marvel, but of course he hasn’t merely survived. He has become arguably the most famous scientist in the world – acclaimed for his brilliant researches, for his best-selling books, and, above all, for his astonishing triumph over adversity.”

Talking about how Prof Hawking has become such a cult figure, Lord Rees said that “the concept of an imprisoned mind roaming the cosmos plainly grabbed people’s imagination”.

He added: “And what a triumph his life has been. His name will live in the annals of science. Millions have had their cosmic horizons widened by his best-selling books and even more, around the world, have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds – a manifestation of amazing willpower and determination. His ‘three score years and ten’ deserve all the accolades they are getting this week.”

Currently director of research at the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge, Prof Hawking previously held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Newton. He is most famous as the author of A Brief History of Time.