Add Category
Updated
The ashes of Professor Stephen Hawking will be interred at Westminster Abbey in London, near the remains of fellow scientists Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Key points:
- Professor Hawking will be buried near fellow fellow distinguished scientists
- Family will hold private funeral at Cambridge University at the end of March
- A public service will be held Westminster later in the year
A private funeral service for the physicist will be held at the end of the month, before a service at Westminster later in the year.
The Dean of Westminster, John Hall, said it was "entirely fitting" Professor Hawking be buried near his fellow distinguished scientists.
"Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727. Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882," Mr Hall said.
Professor Hawking, who was dubbed one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein, died age 76 on March 14, 2018, on what would have been Einstein's 139th birthday.
His funeral will take place at Great St Mary's, the University Church in Cambridge, on Easter Saturday, his family announced.
"He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city," Professor Hawking's children said.
"For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral in the city that he loved so much and which loved him.
"Our father's life and work meant many things to many people, both religious and non-religious.
"So, the service will be both inclusive and traditional, reflecting the breadth and diversity of his life."
Topics: science-and-technology, physics, community-and-society, human-interest, united-kingdom
First posted