In 1963, Stephen Hawking contracted motor neurone disease and was given two years to live. Yet he went on to Cambridge to become a brilliant researcher and Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. From 1979 - 2009, he held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge, the chair held by Isaac Newton in 1663, and since 2009 he has been director of research in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics. Professor Hawking has over a dozen honorary degrees, was awarded the CBE in 1982. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Science. LUCY HAWKING is the author of two adult novels, and has written for the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, The Times and the Evening Standard and has been a guest presenter and regular contributor on radio.