Top scientist Hawking 'is very ill'
Physicist Stephen Hawking is "very ill" in hospital, his employers have said.
Professor Hawking, 67, who is based at Cambridge University, was said to be undergoing tests after being picked up by ambulance.
A university spokesman said Prof Hawking, who suffers from motor neurone disease, would spend Monday night at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and was "comfortable".
"Prof Hawking is very ill. He is undergoing tests," said the spokesman. "He is in a comfortable condition and will spend the night in hospital."
The spokesman said Prof Hawking, best known for his book A Brief History Of Time, had been unwell for several weeks.
Prof Hawking - a grandfather and father-of-three, who lives in Cambridge - is wheelchair-bound and speaks with the help of a voice synthesiser.
He developed symptoms of the disease while studying in the 1960s and is one of the world's longest-surviving sufferers.
Prof Hawking has worked at Cambridge's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics for more than 30 years and since 1979 has been the university's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
He was awarded the CBE in 1982, made a Companion of Honour in 1989 and is a Fellow of The Royal Society.
Professor Peter Haynes, Head of the University's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, added: "Professor Hawking is a remarkable colleague. We all hope he will be amongst us again soon."
