STEPHEN Hawking’s voice will be beamed into space as his ashes are laid to rest today alongside other great scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
A recording of the physicist’s words will be broadcast into space after the memorial held at Westminster Abbey.
Rex Features The service will include a reading by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a 2004 BBC drama
Hawking’s words, set to music by Greek composer Vangelis, will be beamed into space from a European Space Agency satellite dish in Spain.
Professor Hawking’s daughter, Lucy, said the music would be aimed at “the nearest black hole, 1A 0620-00.”
“It is a message of peace and hope, about unity and the need for us to live together in harmony on this planet”, she said.
Rex Features The model Lily Cole (pictured) was one of the guests at the memorial service today
Rex Features Superstar Nile Rodgers was spotted outside Westminster Abbey for today’s memorial
More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the service of thanksgiving for the physicist, who died in March aged 76 after decades living with motor neuron disease for 55 years.
The service will include readings by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a 2004 BBC drama, and astronaut Tim Peake.
An address will also be given by two of Professor Hawking’s oldest scientist friends, Lord Rees, the astronomer royal, and Kip Thorne, an American physicist and Nobel prizewinner.
Professor Hawking’s children have expressed their gratitude to the abbey for allowing their father to have a distinguished final resting place.