Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe from Channel4.com

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Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous physicists on the planet. In his post, as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, he counts Isaac Newton amongst his predecessors. And he was born 300 years to the day after the avant-garde astronomer, Galileo Galilei.

Following a devastating diagnosis of motor neurone disease in 1963, he daily defies medical science. The disease is generally a killer that is characterised by muscle wasting and paralysis. Hawking was given two years to live at the time, yet 44 years later he is still going strong and hoping to solve the big problem of physics.

Hawking, with a zest for life and work that few of us can equal, has already made major contributions to his field. But with only one cheek muscle now working, will he manage his true aspiration, to solve the theory of everything?