Stephen Hawking's hi-tech wheelchair to live forever in London Science Museum

New Delhi : There is news that Stephen Hawking's hi-tech wheelchair and his computer-generated voice may be preserved as a legacy for museums. The scientist's family hope that his wheelchair and voice systems could help preserve his memory and are open to offers from museums, reports 'The Sunday Times'.

Stephen Hawking died at the age of 76 on 14 March 2018. He is known for his immense contribution in the field of science and technology. As of now, his family is willing to preserve his memory left in the form of his hi-tech wheelchair. Sources confirmed that Science Museum in London may commemorate Hawking's life with an exhibition featuring one of his two wheelchairs as a centrepiece, accompanied by recordings of his lectures.

Engineers had spent almost four years in rebuilding the 33-year-old synthesiser that created Hawking's robotic tones after the machine was about to fail working properly.

"We fixed the new system to his wheelchair on January 26," Peter Benie, a computing specialist at Cambridge University who co-led the project, told the newspaper.

"It was the same voice but much clearer. He was using it to talk with his family but he died before it could be heard in public. I would be happy to hear it used to repeat his lectures," he said.

Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair is made in Sweden and easily capable of travelling 20 miles at 8mph on one time charge. He lost his ability to speak in 1985 and later he used to talk through ‘the computer’, using a speech-generating device (SGD) or a voice output communication aid. A Lenovo computer with in-built infrared sensor was used to "read" his cheek movements.

Hawking's voice was created by a US scientist, Dennis Klatt. The "CallText 5010" system based on Klatt's work delighted Hawking so much that he bought three - but when the last began failing, it was too old to remodel. 

Hawking has rejected the existence of life after death. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or after life for broken down computers; that is a fairy story," he said.

In his 20s, he had been diagnosed with motor neuron disease which indicated that he had to spend much of his life in a wheelchair. Therefore, his wheelchair became an identity for his family and friends, which would now be preserved as his afterlife. He will live immortal in the memories of his people all around.