Hawking died on March 14, 2018 at the age of 76 due to acromegaly.

Acromegaly is a type of motor neuron disease with a prevalence of 1 in 100,000, making it a rare disease in the world. The disease causes patients to lose any ability to move as if they were frozen in ice and snow, and there is no cure. It is known as one of the world's five most terminal diseases, along with cancer, AIDS, leukemia and rheumatoid disease. Half of them will die within three years, and 90 percent will survive no more than five years.

In January 1963, 21-year-old Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy lateral sclerosis, his whole body was paralyzed, he couldn't speak, and only three fingers of his hand could move, and doctors said he had only two years to live. The genius of the brain was also lucky enough that his condition progressed more slowly than is usual for patients. He began using crutches, only to switch to a wheelchair a few years later. Later, iconic movements, a wheelchair hooked up to high-tech attachments, and an electronic synthesizer emitting slow readings became his symbols.

Hawking's resilience

According to the Association for Progressive Freedom, there is less than a 5 percent chance that a person suffering from acromegaly will last 20 years, but Hawking has survived more than two 20-year periods. Experts say that Hawking is a very special case, and that there is no other person in history who is as resilient as he is. Scientists point out that Hawking is different mainly because his fight against acromegaly was different from anyone else's to begin with.

Because he developed the disease at a very young age, he became very ill early on, stumbling in his third year of study at Oxford, which is why Hawking lived longer than other late-stage patients, mainly because he had more opportunities to "adapt" to the disease. In addition, ALS usually develops later in life, with the average age of diagnosis being 55.

And the University of Pennsylvania's Leo McCluskey (Leo McCluskey) has said that there are two main causes of death in ALS, one is the impact on the muscles that dominate respiration, that is, respiratory failure is also a common way of death, and the second is the failure of the swallowing muscles, resulting in malnutrition, dehydration and death, if not for these two conditions, basically patients are able to survive for a long time.