Hawking

In 1963, two major events occurred in Hawking's life at the age of 21, one sad and one happy. This year he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that would make his body less and less able to function, leaving only his heart, lungs and brain functioning, and eventually even his heart and lung function would be lost. At that time, doctors predicted that he would only live for two more years. This fatal blow almost caused Hawking to give up his studies, but the appearance of a girl at the birthday party magically changed everything. She was Hawking's first wife Jane.