Stephen Hawking... and Elvis

There must be something cosmic I could write about these two, but words fail me. It's the 75th birthday of Elvis. It's also the 68th birthday of cosmologist Stephen Hawking. And that's cosmologist, not cosmetologist. I realize scientists are not as famous as pop stars but Hawking comes as close as anyone to being both. Elvis appears nine times in A Book of Ages. Hawking appears twice, beginning with the entry from age 21. It was during his third year at Oxford that he began experiencing clumsiness in his limbs. The doctors were unsure what it was, but thought it would probably kill him within a few years. It did not. The doctors prescribed vitamins, and Hawking began listening to Wagner. (An entirely logical prescription.) He went on to change the way we perceive the universe, but has been has confined to a wheelchair for many years.