Physicist Stephen Hawking, who had pneumonia last year, said it “would not be wise for me to have a bucket of cold water poured over [him]” — referring to the viral fundraising effort in which people dump ice water over themselves or donate money to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) research. Instead, his children, Robert, Lucy and Tim, volunteered themselves as his proxies.
Hawking, who’s nearly totally paralyzed after being diagnosed with ALS at 21, urged everyone to donate to the Motor Neurone Disease Association to “eliminate this terrible disease.”
According to the ALS Association, the viral fundraising effort has raised about $95 million so far.
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- Extreme Heat Makes It Hard for Kids to Be Active. But Exercise Is Crucial In a Warming World
- Pelosi's Visit to Taiwan Has Badly Damaged U.S.-China Relations, But Not Irreversibly
- Reality TV Has Reshaped Our World, Whether We Like It or Not
- Progress Is Not A Given. It is Won: The Connection Between James Baldwin and Toni Morrison
- The Inflation Reduction Act's Name Says A Lot About The Climate Fight
- How Reservation Dogs Became More than Just Must-See Television in Its Second Season
- The U.S Will Soon Have Space Force Ambassadors Around the World
Read More From TIME
