Stephen Hawking spends 'two nights in hospital' in Rome after feeling unwell

Physicist reportedly went to hospital 'as a precaution', but his condition is said not to be serious

Mr Hawking fell ill while in Rome to attend a conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Getty Images)

Stephen Hawking has had to go to hospital in Rome after feeling unwell, but according to a spokesman his condition is not believed to be serious.

Professor Hawking, 74, was in Rome to attend a conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and had met Pope Francis on Monday.

But on Thursday night the motor neurone disease sufferer was taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital – where popes are treated - for checks, after he was reported to not be feeling well.

He spent two nights in hospital in the Gemelli “as a precaution”, according to hospital sources, but they added that “the situation was under control”.

A Vatican source meanwhile said plans for Hawking and his entourage to leave on Saturday had not been changed.

The physicist and cosmologist has been vocal on world affairs in recent weeks. In a column on Thursday he delivered a rallying cry for the human race to “work together” and “break down barriers” following Donald Trump’s election victory.

Professor Hawking added that it would be a “terrible mistake” to ignore the populism behind the votes for Brexit and the billionaire tycoon in the US, before going on to warn that “we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity” with the “technology to destroy the planet”.

Additional reporting by Reuters