Stephen Hawking was an Englishman born in 1942. He was a great physicist, scientist and author among other professions. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a PhD. In 1963 he was diagnosed with a slow-progressing disease, which deteriorated his all of his motor functions. By the end of the 1960s he had to start using a wheelchair.
https://www.hawking.org.uk/biography
If you remember social media from 2014 then you know about the Ice Bucket Challenge. It involves dumping a bucket of ice cold water on your head and then nominating your friends to do the same. This challenge was made to bring awareness to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease in the US. Hawking was suffering from ALS, but couldn't take part in the challenge having suffered from pneumonia the year before. The challenge was a huge success, accumulating $220 million for the research of ALS.
Things slowly worsened for him and by 2005 he could only communicate by using his cheek muscle. A special communication device was developed with the help of Intel for him. It allowed him take notes, write books and speak with the help of text-to-speech at about one word per minute. It worked by mounting an infrared sensor to his glasses. The sensor detected his cheek movement, which would control a cursor over rows of letters, allowing him to write sentences.
https://www.hawking.org.uk/biography
The software developed for him included word prediction and auto fill to help with writing. As his disease worsened the software was updated for him. However, the disease didn't discourage him. He still went on to receive awards, go on a zero G flight, meet the US president in 2009 and have a movie made about him in 2014. He would pass away peacefully in 2018 at his home in Cambridge.
