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Associated Press Online
February 24, 2004 Tuesday
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 180 words
DATELINE: CAMBRIDGE, England

Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has been admitted to a hospital again for treatment of pneumonia, the hospital said Tuesday.

Hawking is being treated at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. "He's stable and was brought in yesterday morning," a hospital spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Hawking, 62, who is paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia in December and January.

Police have said they hope to interview Hawking about allegations that he has been abused, and has suffered a string of injuries. Hawking has rejected the allegations.

"I firmly and wholeheartedly reject the allegations that I have been assaulted," Hawking said in a statement issued Jan. 23.

Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton, and the author of the best-selling book "A Brief History of Time."

Over 40 years, his disease had deprived him of the ability to speak or move. He can move some fingers, which he uses to operate a computerized voice box.