Hawking gets rare honour
BRITAIN: He was an atheist who said that belief in the afterlife was nothing more than a fairy story for people afraid of death. However, now that he has gone on to his hereafter, whatever form that may take, Professor Stephen Hawking is to have his own permanent resting place in the heart of Westminster Abbey.
Hawking’s ashes are to be interred near the grave of another great British physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, most probably during a thanksgiving service later this year.
The decision to give him a place among Britain’s greatest scientists is an extremely rare honour.
Westminster Abbey long ago ran out of room to bury people: the last person whose ashes were interred there was actor Sir Laurence Olivier in 1989. However, given Hawking’s status as one of the most renowned scientists in his field, the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev Dr John Hall, decided to make an exception.
The funeral for Hawking, who died on March 14, aged 76, will be held in Cambridge this month.
The abbey said it was unconcerned about Hawking’s atheism.
‘‘It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists,’’ including New Zealand atomic physicist Ernest Rutherford, Hall said.
‘‘Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882,’’ he said. ‘‘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.’’