Police fight back 'rugby scrum' as Stephen Hawking flies in for university lecture The Stephen Hawking roadshow rolled into town yesterday to the kind of welcome usually reserved for rock stars. The 64-year-old author and theoretical physicist was mobbed by a battalion of fans and press when his plane touched down a little after 3pm. Police had to form a human chain to hold back the crowds when the professor appeared. One passenger, dashing through the melee to catch a plane, compared the crowd to a rugby scrum. Tom Grundy, 23, who was returning to Britain after a year at Kiangsu and Chekiang College, Sha Tin, said: 'I've never seen anything like it before. It was extraordinary. People were getting shoved around everywhere. They were virtually pushing him over.' Amy Tsang Ting-wai, 10, part of a posse of pupils from Yuen Long Wai Chow School, said Professor Hawking was 'nice' but she feared for his safety. 'I can see it's difficult for him to do anything. I was afraid he was going to get hurt.' It was a special occasion for many youngsters, who made a welcome banner, as they had not been to the airport before, teacher Grace Lo Wa-kuen said. A spokeswoman with a delegation from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where Professor Hawking is due to deliver a lecture on 'The Origin of the Universe' on Thursday afternoon, said she believed the scientist's desire to be photographed with a group of students had contributed to the scrum. 'I don't know whether he got it or not because I was outside the crowd,' she said. 'But that was when the photographers rushed.' Police made a human corridor to allow the scientist and his entourage to reach a lift and escape to his hotel in Central. Professor Hawking, who is visiting on his way to an international conference on the mathematics string theory in Beijing next week, was met by HKUST president Paul Chu Ching-wu, dean of science Cheng Shiu-yuen and the executive director of the university's Institute for Advanced Study, Angelina Yee. Professor Chu said it was remarkable that Professor Hawking, famous for his popular science books including A Brief History Of Time, had overcome so many difficulties to achieve so much. Professor Hawking speaks with a voice synthesiser and has been in a wheelchair since developing motor neurone disease when he was a teenager at Cambridge University. HKUST students Cherry Ho Cheuk-ting, 19, studying physics, and Marco Chung Kam-to, 20, economics and finance, were chosen to present the physicist with a bunch of flowers. Ms Ho, a second-year undergraduate, said Professor Hawking had been 'a great inspiration' to her. Mr Chung said: 'He's one of the most famous scientists ever. If you could say that Isaac Newton changed the world, then Stephen Hawking has changed the universe.' Professor Hawking said he was looking forward to giving his lecture. 'I forward to some stimulating questions,' he said.