London ( CNN ) Cosmologist Stephen Hawking says he was `` happy '' to lend his trademark synthesized voice to actor Eddie Redmayne , who portrays the British scientist in the drama about his life , `` to give him a bit of a boost in his efforts to win an Oscar . '' Although , joked the 73-year-old physicist , `` Unfortunately , Eddie did not inherit my good looks . '' Hawking suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ) , a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord . He irreversibly lost the ability to speak in 1985 after having a tube inserted into his windpipe during a bout of severe pneumonia and now communicates in instantly recognizable tones using an electronic speech synthesizer . `` Before I lost my voice , it was slurred , so only those close to me could understand [ it ] . But with the computer voice , I found I could give popular lectures , '' Hawking said . `` Although it gave me an American accent , I have kept that voice , because it 's now my trademark . '' Hawking 's comments came as he gave a personal guided tour of London 's Science Museum to 24-year-old L.A.-resident Adaeze Uyanwah , who beat more than 10,000 entrants in a competition to be named London 's Official Guest of Honor . Redmayne , 32 , has been nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his uncanny transformation into Hawking . The actor has already picked up an armful of awards for the role , including both the BAFTA and Golden Globe prizes for best actor , and is in the running to take home an Oscar when the winners are announced on February 22 . `` The Theory of Everything '' follows Hawking from the 1960s during his early days as a bright postgraduate student at Cambridge University to the 1980s when he publishes the seminal `` A Brief History of Time , '' and focuses on his relationship with his first wife Jane and his battle with ALS . It is based on the memoir `` Travelling to Infinity : My Life with Stephen , '' written by Jane , who is played in the film by Felicity Jones . Initially , the filmmakers used a voice-box programmed to sound like the one Hawking uses , but after watching an early screening , the physicist was so pleased that he allowed filmmakers to use his voice , according to Newsweek . `` He offered us his voice , '' Redmayne told Newsweek . `` For me , that was the most wonderful thing . '' The British actor has confessed to nerves about playing a living legend and told Variety that he always knew that his toughest critic would be Hawking . But when the lights came up Hawking 's nurse wiped a tear way from his face -- and he called the film `` broadly true , '' Variety reported . During the tour , Hawking said the museum is one of his favorite places and `` helped fuel '' his fascination with physics . The physicist showed Uyanwah items from the museum of particular significance to him , including a rare copy of Newton 's Principia Mathematica from 1687 and a reconstruction of a 1953 model of the famous double helix structure of DNA discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson . `` We are now entering a new phase of what might be called self-designed evolution in which we will be able to change and improve our DNA , '' he told her . `` Now that we have read the book of life , we can start writing in corrections , to make us more intelligent and better natured . '' As well as meeting the science legend , VisitLondon.com 's Guest of Honor initiative , part of the `` GREAT Britain '' campaign , treated Uyanwah to a private tour of Shakespeare 's Globe theater , a walk down the red carpet at the premiere of `` The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel '' and tea with London Mayor Boris Johnson . Uyanwah did n't leave her meeting with Hawking -- which she described as something she 'll `` never forget '' -- without taking the opportunity to ask him what he would change about the human race -- and what virtues he would magnify . `` The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression . It may have had [ a ] survival advantage in cave man days ... but now it threatens to destroy us all . A major nuclear war would be the end of civilization , and maybe the end of the human race . `` The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy . It brings us together in a peaceful loving state . '' The eminent thinker finished the tour by telling her that he hoped the objects he 'd shown her would remind her to `` hold on to that childlike wonder about what makes the universe exist . '' `` Look up at the stars , and not down at your feet , '' he said .
Renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking approves of `` The Theory of Everything '' Allowed filmmakers to use his trademark computer-synthesized voice . Says he hope it will give Eddie Redmayne 's chance of a Best Actor Oscar `` a bit of a boost ''