Noam Chomsky, Linguist and Thought Leader, Hospitalized in Brazil After Stroke

The 95-year-old activist is under medical care after suffering a massive stroke in June 2023, his wife Valeria confirmed

Linguist and activist Noam Chomsky is hospitalized in Brazil amid his recovery from a stroke he had a year ago, his wife has confirmed.

The 95-year-old was transported to a hospital in São Paulo in his wife’s native country after having a massive stroke in June 2023, his wife Valeria Chomsky told the Associated Press via email on Wednesday, June 12. Valeria said her husband was transported to São Paulo once he could more easily travel from the U.S.

She also confirmed the details of Chomsky’s hospital move to Brazilian newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo, who were the first to report the news on Monday, June 10.

According to the newspaper, Valeria decided to bring her husband to São Paulo, where the couple has had a residence since 2015, in a bid to speed up his recovery with modified treatment after the stroke left him with “speech difficulties and the right side of his body numb."

Chomsky had been treated by local doctors in Arizona, where he and his wife reside, and he was given medication and intravenous feeding which was eventually “minimized," per the outlet.

After seeing her husband gradually regain consciousness and communicate with less difficulty, Valeria brought him to the Brazilian hospital in an ambulance jet with two nurses and he was admitted to the ICU, according to the newspaper.

Chomsky’s condition has since improved significantly and he is now out of the ICU, per the outlet. The 95-year-old is visited by a neurologist, speech therapist and lung specialist daily as he continues his recovery, per AP.

Valeria did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for further information.

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Chomsky is regarded around the world as an influential activist, political campaigner and founding figure in the study of modern linguistics.

He was a longtime faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2017, Chomsky joined the University of Arizona as a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He is also the Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program, per the university’s website.

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