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Stephen Hawking in hospital
(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-21 09:33

Famed mathematician Stephen Hawking has been rushed to a hospital and is seriously ill, Cambridge University said yesterday.

The university said Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks, and was being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

"Professor Hawking is very ill," said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. "He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks."

Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with motor neurone disease, an incurable degenerative disease.