Henry Louis “Lou” or “Buster”Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was a German-American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname “The Iron Horse“.
By the second half of the season in 1938, Gehrig reported physical changes at the midway point. At one point, he collapsed during the spring training in 1939. By the end of spring training, Gehrig could no longer hit a home run. Throughout his career, Gehrig was considered an excellent base runner, but as the 1939 season got under way, his coordination and speed had deteriorated significantly.
As Lou Gehrig’s debilitation became steadily worse, his wife, Eleanor, called the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Her call was transferred to Charles William Mayo, who had been following Gehrig’s career and his mysterious loss of strength. Mayo told Eleanor to bring Gehrig as soon as possible.
Gehrig flew alone to Rochester from Chicago, where the Yankees were playing at the time, arriving at the Mayo Clinic on June 13, 1939. After six days of extensive testing at Mayo Clinic, the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was confirmed on June 19, Gehrig’s 36th birthday, which forced him to retire. He lived for 2 years after the diagnosis (Wikipedia, 2013).
2008 – Hawking being presented by his daughter Lucy at his lecture for NASA’s 50th birthday.
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.
Hawking has achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; his A Brief History of Time stayed on the British Sunday Times best-sellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking has a motor neuron disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years. He is almost entirely paralysed and communicates through a speech generating device.
Hawking had experienced increasing clumsiness during his final year at Oxford, including a fall on some stairs and difficulties when rowing. The problems worsened, and his speech became slightly slurred; his family noticed the changes when he returned home for Christmas and medical investigations were begun. The diagnosis of motor neurone disease came when Hawking was 21. At the time, doctors gave him a life expectancy of two years.
Hawking’s disease-related deterioration has continued, and in 2005 he began to control his communication device with movements of his cheek muscles, with a rate of about one word per minute. With this decline there is a risk of him acquiring locked-in syndrome, so Hawking is collaborating with researchers on systems that could translate Hawking’s brain patterns or facial expressions into switch activations. By 2009 he could no longer drive his wheelchair independently. He has increased breathing difficulties, requiring a ventilator at times, and has been hospitalized several times.
Hawking retired as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 2009. Despite suggestions that he might leave the United Kingdom in protest due to public funding cuts to basic scientific research, Hawking has continued to work as director of research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and has indicated no plans to retire (Wikipedia, 2013).
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis 