Stephen Hawking Reveals His Closest Brush with Death

Doctors offered to turn off Stephen Hawking’s life support machine in 1985, the British cosmologist revealed in a new documentary to be released along with his memoirs this fall. 

Hawking at the time was suffering from a bout of pneumonia, but his wife kept him on life support. 

“Because every day could be my last,” Hawking says, “I have a desire to make the most of every single minute.” Hawking has lived for 50 years with motor neurone disease.

Watch Stephen Hawking’s interview with Big Think here:

Image courtesy of Shutterstock