Il posto di Stephen Hawking è tra i più grandi scienziati della storia. Il fisico britannico sarà infatti sepolto accanto alle tombe di Isaac Newton e Charles Darwin nell'Abbazia di Westminster.
Scomparso lo scorso 14 marzo a 76 anni, Hawking ha trascorso l'intera vita a studiare l'origine dell'universo, i misteri dei buchi neri e la natura del tempo. I suoi funerali si terranno il 31 marzo a Cambridge, dove ha vissuto e insegnato per oltre 50 anni.
"È del tutto appropriato che le ceneri del professor Hawking vengano seppellite nell'Abbazia, accanto ai suoi illustri colleghi scienziati", ha dichiarato il diacono John Hall. Nell'Abbazia di Westminster riposano 17 monarchi e alcune delle personalità più influenti della storia britannica, tra cui appunto Newton, considerato il fondatore della scienza moderna.
Hawking in uno scatto del 2014
Costretto all'immobilità a causa della SLA, malattia che lo ha colpito da giovane, Hawking riusciva comunicare attraverso un sintetizzatore vocale divenuto emblematico. La sua morte ha suscitato un profondo cordoglio in tutto il mondo.
AFP/REU/eb
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