Defying the odds of medicine

Few would contest that Prof Stephen Hawking is an incredible man. 

The Lucasian professor of mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein.

He has 12 honorary degrees, a CBE and in 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US.

But aside from his academic achievements, the professor is also something of a medical marvel.

Now aged 70, he has long defied and baffled medical experts who predicted he had just months to live in 1963 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).      Read Full