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Hawking's remains to be buried at abbey near Newton, Darwin

March 21, 2018
Physicist Stephen Hawking sits on stage during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative with investor Yuri Milner in New York in this April 12, 2016 file photo. - Reuters
Physicist Stephen Hawking sits on stage during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative with investor Yuri Milner in New York in this April 12, 2016 file photo. - Reuters

LONDON - Stephen Hawking's ashes will be buried near the graves of fellow British scientists Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey, it was announced Wednesday.

The remains of the legendary physicist and icon, who died last week, will be laid in the church during a thanksgiving service later this year, the abbey said.

His family earlier confirmed the funeral will take place on March 31 at Great St Mary's church in Cambridge University, a short distance from Gonville and Caius College, where Hawking worked at unlocking the secrets of the universe for more than 52 years.

Hawking died aged 76 on March 14 after a cosmic career in which his mental genius transcended his physical disability.

Propelled to stardom by his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time", an unlikely worldwide bestseller, Hawking's genius and wit won over fans from far beyond the rarefied world of astrophysics.

As a scientist, he earned comparisons with Newton and Albert Einstein.

Family, friends and colleagues will be invited to the private funeral service, which takes place at 1300 GMT. A private reception will be held afterwards at Trinity College.

His children Lucy, Robert and Tim thanked people for their "wonderful tributes" and messages of condolence.

"Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years. He was an integral and highly recognizable part of the university and the city," they 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."

Hawking died peacefully at his Cambridge home. His health had been deteriorating since the New Year. He defied predictions that he would only live for a few years after developing a form of motor neuron disease in his early 20s.

The illness gradually robbed him of mobility, leaving him confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak except through his trademark voice synthesizer.

He became one of the world's most well-regarded scientists and entered the pantheon of science titans.

John Hall, Dean of Westminster, said: "It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists.

Newton was buried in the abbey in 1727 and Darwin alongside him in 1882. Other famous scientists are buried nearby, the most recent being atomic physicists Ernest Rutherford in 1937 and Joseph John Thomson in 1940.

Several kings and queens are buried in the abbey, along with eight British prime ministers. - AFP


March 21, 2018
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