Support MND Research

This website is free, and it always will be. It exists to explain Stephen Hawking's life and science to anyone who is curious. But it also has a second purpose, and it is the one that matters most: to help fund research into the disease he lived with for fifty-five years.

A meaningful share of any revenue this site earns, including anything earned through the book links on these pages, is given to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. You do not have to buy anything to help. The single most useful thing you can do is donate to the charity directly.

Why the MND Association

Stephen Hawking became a patron of the MND Association in 2008 and held that role until his death in 2018. Through decades in the public eye he did more than almost anyone alive to raise awareness of the disease, and he never allowed himself to be defined by it. The charity funds research, supports people living with MND and their families, and campaigns for better care.

It is worth knowing that the Stephen Hawking Foundation, set up in his name, was removed from the Charity Commission register in 2023 and no longer operates. The MND Association is the active, established charity directly connected to Hawking, which is why it is the one this site supports and points you towards.

What your support funds

Motor neurone disease has no cure. Most people live between two and five years from diagnosis. Research money goes towards understanding why the motor neurones fail, finding treatments that slow the disease, improving the technology that lets people communicate and stay independent, and supporting families through an extraordinarily hard time. Hawking benefited from exactly this kind of care and communication technology for decades; funding it for others is the most fitting tribute there is.

How to give

The best way to help is to give to the MND Association directly. Every pound goes further than a share of an affiliate commission ever could.

Donate to the Motor Neurone Disease Association

If you would rather support the site's mission, simply reading and sharing these pages, or buying one of Hawking's books through the links here, contributes too. Either way, thank you.

Our commitment, stated plainly

We believe a charity claim should be specific, not vague. This site commits to giving a defined share of its revenue to the MND Association, and that figure will be published here in full once finalised, in line with UK fundraising rules for businesses that raise money for charity. Transparency is the point: you should always be able to see exactly how much of what you contribute reaches the cause.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

It is one of Hawking's best-known lines, and giving to MND research is one very concrete thing any of us can do.