Physicist Hawking expected to recover

CAMBRIDGE, England, April 21 (UPI) -- British physicist Stephen Hawking is expected to fully recover from a chest infection, doctors at Cambridge University said Tuesday.

The 67-year-old scientist, who is wheelchair-bound and speaks with a voice synthesizer, was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for tests Monday after an infection worsened.

A university spokesman said Hawking remained hospitalized but was "in a comfortable condition and is expected to make a full recovery," The Times of London reported.

Hawking, best-known as the author of "A Brief History of Time," is acknowledged one of the world's foremost experts on the origins of the universe, black holes and gravity. He is also well-known for his use of a voice synthesizer, made necessary by his affliction with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a motor neurone disease.