The ashes of Professor Stephen Hawking will be buried at Westminster Abbey. He will be laid to rest near the grave of Sir Isaac Newton during a thanksgiving service later this year, a spokesman for the abbey said.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said it is ‘entirely fitting’ that Professor Hawking’s remains will be buried in the Abbey, near the world’s most notable and famous scientists. ‘Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727,’ he said. ‘Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882.
Professor Hawking will be laid to rest by Charles Darwin
‘Other famous scientists are buried or memorialised nearby, the most recent burials being those of atomic physicists Ernest Rutherford in 1937 and Joseph John Thomson in 1940. ‘We believe it to be vital that science and religion work together to seek to answer the great questions of the mystery of life and of the universe.’
Professor Hawking passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday morning.