Professor Stephen Hawking will have his ashes interred alongside those of great scientists Darwin and Newton
Guests from the science and showbiz worlds including Benedict Cumberbatch, Carol Vorderman and Brian Cox today attended a service paying tribute to the late Professor Stephen Hawking.
Lily Cole, Anita Dobson and Nile Rogers were also at the memorial service at Westminster Abbey in London, alongside comedians Ben Miller and David Walliams.
Nick Mason and David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan also attended.
The service will see Mr Hawking’s ashes interred alongside those of great scientists Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, as his voice is beamed into space.
The late scientist’s words have been set to an original piece of music, composed by Vangelis, for the Service of Thanksgiving, and offer a message of peace and hope, Mr Hawking’s daughter Lucy told the BBC.
‘The broadcast will be beamed towards the nearest black hole, 1A 0620-00, which lives in a binary system with a fairly ordinary orange dwarf star,’ she said.
‘It is a message of peace and hope, about unity and the need for us to live together in harmony on this planet.’
The broadcast in space is set to take place following a service which featured readings and addresses from various people including Cumberbatch, who played the physicist in a BBC drama, and astronaut Tim Peake.
Readings were given by Benedict Cumberbatch (left), who played the scientist in a TV drama, and Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees (right)
Britain’s first official spaceman Tim Peake also spoke at the memorial service, before Prof Hawking’s ashes were interred
Professor Hawking’s daughter Lucy lays flowers at the spot where Prof Hawking’s ashes are being laid in Westminster Abbey
Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the physicist in a BBC drama, and his wife Sophie Hunter arrive for the service today
Stephen Hawking’s children Lucy (left) and Timothy Hawking (right) arrive this morning to remember their late father
Carol Vorderman and her daughter Katy (left) arrive at Westminster Service along with model Lily Cole (right)
ITV presenter Charlotte Hawkins (left) and former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson (right) are both at the service today
Mr Hawking’s former wife Jane Hawking with her husband Jonathan Jones (left), and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right)
Actor and comedian David Walliams (left) and musician Nile Rogers (right) are both at the memorial service today
An address will be given by Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, while Mr Hawking’s collaborator and Nobel prize winner Kip Thorne will give a tribute.
Mr Hawking’s children have expressed their gratitude to Westminster Abbey for allowing their father to have a ‘distinguished’ final resting place between the graves of Newton and Darwin.
One thousand members of the public, from more than 100 countries, were offered the opportunity to attend the thanksgiving service after a ballot attracted 25,000 applications for tickets.
They were welcomed to the abbey in by volunteers from the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Nick Mason (left) and David Gilmour (right) from Pink Floyd are attending the service at Westminster Abbey today
Comedian and actor Ben Miller (left) and Professor Brian Cox (right) arrive at Westminster Abbey this morning
DailyMail.com US Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan (left) and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney (right) arrive
Astrophysicist Martin Rees (left) and Lord Frederick Windsor (right) arrive for the service at Westminster Abbey
(From left) Jack Smith, 21, Rose Brown, 20, and Jason Felce, 20, all communicate electronically and are among the guests
The memorial stone for Mr Hawking’s grave. Incised is his most famous equation describing the entropy of a black hole
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, has said that the burial of the ashes will form a fundamental element of the service and will not be an afterthought.
Three young people who communicate electronically will be among the guests attending the memorial service for Professor Stephen Hawking.
Jason Felce, 20, Jack Smith, 21, and Rose Brown, 20, who all use electronic communication devices to enable them to speak, just as Mr Hawking did, were among the guests today.
The trio are all students at National Star College in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, a specialist further education college for young people with disabilities and learning difficulties from across the UK.
Mr Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his 20s, died aged 76 on March 14. A private funeral was held in Cambridge later that month.
Professor Stephen Hawking will rest between Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin at Westminster Abbey
The interment inside Westminster Abbey being given to the late Professor Stephen Hawking is a rarely bestowed honour.
He will rest between Sir Isaac Newton, who formulated the law of universal gravitation and laid the foundations of modern maths and Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution was one of the most far-reaching scientific breakthroughs ever.
Mr Hawking will also be buried at the abbey in London near the memorials or graves of the astronomers John and William Herschel and mathematician James Clark Maxwell.
Other memorials in the same area are for penicillin pioneer Howard Walter Florey and genius physicist Michael Faraday.
The most recent burials of scientists inside Westminster Abbey were those of Ernest Rutherford, a pioneer of nuclear physics, in 1937, and of Joseph John Thomson, who discovered electrons, in 1940.
Mr Hawking will be buried near the memorials or graves of biologist Charles Darwin (1), the astronomers John and William Herschel (2 and 4), mathematician James Clark Maxwell (5), penicillin pioneer Howard Walter Florey (3) and genius physicist Michael Faraday (6). Sir Isaac Newton’s memorial is to the right of Faraday’s