Birthday hampers may have been sent to scientist Stephen Hawking to congratulate the professor on his 70th birthday.

The author of A Brief History Of Time was honoured at a symposium held at Cambridge University to mark the milestone.

However, professor Hawking was unable to attend due to ill health and instead a recorded speech was played to the guests.

In the talk, the famous scientist urged people to be inquisitive and consider ways to further the human race.

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist," he stated.

Professor Hawking's 70th birthday is all the more notable as when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21 he was told he would have only years left to live.

Despite being wheelchair bound and depending on a computerised voice system for communication, the expert has described how he would like to travel to space one day.