Stephen Hawking close to dying?

[Anima]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/20/Physicist-Hawking-hospitalized/UPI-21901240244018/

 

[crandc]

Anima, it says he's seriously ill, not close to dying.

Although Hawking has been living on borrowed time for about half a century. Sooner or later the bill must be paid. But you can say that for all of us, can't you?

 

[Colonel Ronan]

I hope he gets better soon, we need a brainy guy.

I was just thinking about how amazing it would be to learn about Stephen Hawking in a couple of decades (if we get there).

 

[Nate Dogg]

I hope he can tell us how Pluto became no longer a planet. i was always curious how that came about and S.Hawkings would give me the answer. I hope he gets better.

 

[crandc]

It is reported he is recovering.

Pluto lost its planetary status as numerous objects of similar size, shape, orbit were discovered - I'm talking thousands upon thousands. Are they all planets? How do you make Pluto a planet but not Sedna, Eris (larger than Pluto) or these other objects? So the definition of planet had to be clarified.

Roughly, a planet orbits a star and shines by reflected light. It has sufficient gravity to be round and to have cleared its neighborhood of other smaller objects. It is not a captured comet or meteor.