Humble Boy

Text of the day: “Stephen Hawking had his breakthrough when he was getting into bed. But because of his motor neuron disease it took him an age. Throwing back the sheets, plugging in the electric blanket, hauling himself up, tucking himself in, required a gargantuan effort. The nerve cells in his spinal cord were disintegrating, his muscles were playing tricks on him, but all the while his brain was buzzing with complex equations. They went showering through him, like Shakespearean sonnets. By the time he set his alarm clock he’d cracked it.” (Felix in Charlotte Jones’s Humble Boy)

Charlotte Jones disability Eureka! genius Humble Boy mathematics modern classics motor neuron disease Orange Tree Theatre playwriting science Shakespeare Stephen Hawking