Westminster Abbey has today announced that there will be a Service of Thanksgiving later in the year for Professor Stephen Hawking, during which his ashes will be interred in the Abbey near the grave of Sir Isaac Newton.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said today It is entirely fitting that the remains of Professor Stephen Hawking are to be buried in the Abbey, near those of distinguished fellow scientists. Sir Isaac Newton was buried in the Abbey in 1727. Charles Darwin was buried beside Isaac Newton in 1882. Other famous scientists are buried or memorialised nearby, the most recent burials being those of atomic physicists Ernest Rutherford in 1937 and Joseph John Thomson in 1940. 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.