Stephen Hawking’s ashes were interred today (June 15) at Scientists’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in London, positioned between the graves of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
During the memorial service, a message from Hawking in his own voice, set to music by the Greek composer Vangelis, was beamed towards black hole 1A 0620–00, which at 3,500 light years distance, is the closest black hole to the solar system.
The ceremony included tributes by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a BBC drama, astronaut Tim Peake, English Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees, Prof Hawking's collaborator and Nobel prize winner Kip Thorne and Lucy Hawking, Stephen’s daughter.
Here are a few tweets and videos from the ceremony -
The memorial stone was inscribed with Hawking’s famous equation about Hawking radiation, which showed how energy and information can escape from black holes.
A few more tributes, not included in the first video -
The ashes burial -
The Message Sent to a Black Hole
A six-minute musical piece, that includes a message from Hawking in his own voice, and music by the Greek composer Vangelis, was beamed towards black hole 1A 0620–00. The message and music can be heard at www.bbc.com/…. I have not found an embeddable source yet.
A description of the CD and its cover can be found at www.stephenhawkinginterment.com/...
The Scientists’ Corner
The Scientists’ Corner at Westminster Abbey contains graves of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac and Michael Faraday.
Obituary by friend and colleague Roger Penrose
Epilogue
Curiously, Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death and died on the 139th anniversary of Einstein's birth.
It is a bit ironic perhaps that Hawking, who was an atheist, had his ashes buried on the premises of a Christian Church, but perhaps it is quite fitting to be interred next to Darwin, whose theory of evolution buried centuries of religious dogma.
Stephen Hawking’s views on religion can be summed up in his famous statements -
We are each free to believe what we want and it is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realisation. There is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.
Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist.
Perhaps, Hawking’s ashes should be sent on the next deep space mission, just like Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s ashes were sent on board the New Horizons spacecraft.
May he rest in peace wherever he is, perhaps living in an alternate Universe. Or as Obama wrote -
For an (unconventional) tribute to Stephen Hawking written upon news of his death, please see diary “Stephen Hawking, Pop Culture Icon” at www.dailykos.com/…
Further Reading
- www.stephenhawkinginterment.com
- Ashes of Stephen Hawking buried in the Abbey — www.westminster-abbey.org/...
- Stephen Hawking's ashes interred at Westminster Abbey — www.theguardian.com/...