Pretty neat. Was just in Westminster a couple of months ago, saw the scientists corner.
Posted on 06/15/2018 10:26:13 PM PDT by Simon Green
The ashes of Stephen Hawking were buried Friday in a corner of Westminster Abbey that honors some of Britain's greatest scientists, between the graves of Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.
More than 1,000 people attended a service of thanksgiving in the ancient abbey for the physicist, who died in March at age 76 after decades of living with motor neuron disease. When he was diagnosed, at the age of 22, he was given only a few years to live.
Hawking conducted groundbreaking research into black holes and the origins of the universe, and gained global fame as a popularizer and communicator of science. His book "A Brief History of Time" sold 9 million copies — even if many readers didn't finish it — and he appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," ''The Big Bang Theory" and "The Simpsons."
"His name will live in the annals of science," Astronomer Royal Martin Rees said at the memorial service. "Nobody else since Einstein has done more to deepen our understanding of space and time.
"Millions have had their horizons widened by his books and lectures, and even more worldwide have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds," Rees said.
awking's first wife, Jane, and daughter, Lucy, were among an eclectic crowd that included scientists and schoolchildren; politicians, including British Culture Secretary Matt Hancock and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn; Chic guitarist Nile Rogers; actress Lily Cole; comedian David Walliams; and talk show host Piers Morgan.
Guests also included 1,000 members of the public selected by ballot from 25,000 applicants. A private funeral service was held in March in Cambridge, where Hawking lived and worked for decades.
The service included biblical readings by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a BBC drama, and by Lucy Hawking. Astronaut Tim Peake read from "Queen Mab," by poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, which evokes the wonders of the universe.
“Also it seems he was wrong about black holes? In the end, does he deserve being compared to the greats?”
Yeah?
Lots of the “greats” were not 100% dead-on correct on everything, but they advanced their fields significantly so that the next generation could build off of their breakthroughs.
The dilemma of an atheists funeral...all dressed up and no place to go
I truly find no originality.
Right. No Christian would ever do that.
You can bury an atheist in a cathedral, but you can’t fool God.
And the world gives a f$###$ because???
It’s known as a Royal Peculiar since it is administered directly by the monarch and not the local bishop.
Episcopalians are liberal nuts. Put a complete ideological enemy in your most sacred place. They’d put Hitler there if they could get the ashes,
God gave him an extra 50 years to get it right, for all accounts he did not and could be burning in hell today.
I probably missed it but, we need to weigh the gravity of your commnet ;-)
Exactly so. Newton believed in alchemy and creationism, but that doesn't take away from his work in mathematics and physics.
Oh, there is a place.
Odd. This does not sound like something he would not have requested, seeing as he was not a Believer. I’m thinking the wife gave approval for it as a kind of status symbol.
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