In 1968, Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. By 1969 Hawking was forced to use a wheelchair. Hawking published his first book The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time in 1973. In 1974, Hawking became extremely popular in the scientific world. Hawking showed that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a star that has collapsed. This is known as Hawking radiation. Hawking became a fellow of the Royal Society, a worldwide fellowship for scientists, when he was 32. Hawking also earned the Albert Einstein Award.
    In the mid-1970s, Hawking could still feed himself and get out of bed, but almost everything else required help. Hawking’s speech had become more slurred. In 1978, Hawking won the Pius XI Gold Medal for Science from Pope Paul VI. In 1978, Hawking won the honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. In 1985, Hawking lost his voice permanently when he got a tracheotomy. This also affected Hawking’s ability to do work.
    A California programmer created a speaking program that could be directed by head or eye movement. This technology allowed Hawking to select words on a computer screen which were then passed through a speech synthesizer. When this invention was introduced, Hawking had control of his fingers and he could select the words with a handheld clicker device. Now Hawking directs the program using a cheek muscle which is attached to a sensor.

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