<em>British physicist Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the fatal neurological disease that paralysed his body but did nothing to curb his contribution to scie</em>
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS is one of several types of motor neurone diseases. It gradually and inexorably paralyzes patients, usually killing within about four years. Hawking was diagnosed in 1963, when he was just 21 years old. He survived for 55 years with the incurable condition.
