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Professor Stephen Hawking's ashes are to be buried at Westminster Abbey near to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton.

His ashes will be interred during a thanksgiving service later this year, a spokesman for the abbey said.

Earlier today the details of Professor Stephen Hawking's funeral were revealed. It is due to take place on March 31 in Cambridge.

His family said they wanted to hold his funeral in a “city he loved so much.”

Scientist Stephen Hawking - In pictures 33 show all Scientist Stephen Hawking - In pictures 1/33 Nelson Mandela talks to Prof Hawking in Johannesburg in 2008 AFP/Getty Images 2/33 Prof Hawking and his second wife Elaine Mason attend the international bookfair in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2005 Getty Images 3/33 Prof Hawking gives a lecture at the Bloomfield Museum of Science in Jerusalem in 2006 AFP/Getty Images 4/33 Prof Hawking, his daughter Lucy and French physicist Christophe Galfard in 2007 AFP/Getty Images 5/33 Professor Stephen Hawking at his Oxford Graduation 6/33 Stephen Hawking with his son Robert in 1967 COLLECT 7/33 Stephen Hawking with his wife 8/33 Stephen Hawking with wife Jane and their children 9/33 Professor Stephen Hawking at his marriage ceremony to his former nurse Elaine Mason in 1995 PA 10/33 Stephen Hawking nd Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin with their portraits unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London PA 11/33 A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Amazon 12/33 Then-president Barack Obama presents Prof Hawking the Medal Freedom in 2009 Getty Images 13/33 Queen Elizabeth II meets Prof Hawking at St James's Palace in 2014 Getty Images 14/33 Professor Stephen Hawking and Eddie Redmayne attends the UK Premiere of "The Theory Of Everything" at Odeon Leicester Square Getty Images 15/33 George Osborne and Stephen Hawking attend the London Evening Standard's '1000: London's Most Influential People' at The Francis Crick Institute 16/33 Stephen Hawking in The Simpsons Fox 17/33 Stephen Hawking with David Beckham 18/33 Professor Stephen Hawking unveils a scientific formula to predict the chances of England succeeding in the World Cup in Cambridge 19/33 ill Gates (L), accompanied by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Alec Broers meets Professor Stephen Hawking on a visit to Cambridge University REUTERS 20/33 Stephen Hawking floats on a zero-gravity jet in 2007 AP 21/33 Pope Benedict XVI greets British professor Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican in 2008 Reuters 22/33 Prof Hawking on a visit to Cape Finestre, Spain, in 2008 AFP/Getty Images 23/33 Professor Stephen Hawking in Futurama 24/33 Stephen Hawking played himself in multiple episodes of 'The Big Bang Theory' 25/33 Hawking : World leaders and scientists pay tribute to famous physicist PA 26/33 Prof Hawking pictured in London in 2014 AFP/Getty Images 27/33 British physicist Stephen Hawking sits in the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games August 29, 2012. REUTERS/Toby Melville (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS) 28/33 David Walliams, Professor Stephen Hawking and Catherine Tate for Red Nose Day 2015 Rex Features 29/33 Stephen Hawking with Jane Wilde and guests attend the EE British Academy Film Awards at The Royal Opera House in 2015 30/33 Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones presenting the Award for Special Visual Effects at the EE BAFTA British Academy Film Award 2015 Rex Features 31/33 Pope Francis greets physicist Stephen Hawking during an audience with participants at a plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in 2016 AP 32/33 Professor Stephen Hawking presenting winners Oxford's Balliol College (right) with the winning trophy after their victory by 190 points to 140 over Wolfson College Cambridge (left) in 2017 PA 33/33 Professor Stephen Hawking is presented with his illuminated Freedom scroll by the Chamberlain of the City of London Peter Kane as he receives the Honorary Freedom of the City of London during a ceremony at the Guildhall, London in 2017 AP 1/33 Nelson Mandela talks to Prof Hawking in Johannesburg in 2008 AFP/Getty Images 2/33 Prof Hawking and his second wife Elaine Mason attend the international bookfair in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2005 Getty Images 3/33 Prof Hawking gives a lecture at the Bloomfield Museum of Science in Jerusalem in 2006 AFP/Getty Images 4/33 Prof Hawking, his daughter Lucy and French physicist Christophe Galfard in 2007 AFP/Getty Images 5/33 Professor Stephen Hawking at his Oxford Graduation 6/33 Stephen Hawking with his son Robert in 1967 COLLECT 7/33 Stephen Hawking with his wife 8/33 Stephen Hawking with wife Jane and their children 9/33 Professor Stephen Hawking at his marriage ceremony to his former nurse Elaine Mason in 1995 PA 10/33 Stephen Hawking nd Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin with their portraits unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London PA 11/33 A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Amazon 12/33 Then-president Barack Obama presents Prof Hawking the Medal Freedom in 2009 Getty Images 13/33 Queen Elizabeth II meets Prof Hawking at St James's Palace in 2014 Getty Images 14/33 Professor Stephen Hawking and Eddie Redmayne attends the UK Premiere of "The Theory Of Everything" at Odeon Leicester Square Getty Images 15/33 George Osborne and Stephen Hawking attend the London Evening Standard's '1000: London's Most Influential People' at The Francis Crick Institute 16/33 Stephen Hawking in The Simpsons Fox 17/33 Stephen Hawking with David Beckham 18/33 Professor Stephen Hawking unveils a scientific formula to predict the chances of England succeeding in the World Cup in Cambridge 19/33 ill Gates (L), accompanied by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Alec Broers meets Professor Stephen Hawking on a visit to Cambridge University REUTERS 20/33 Stephen Hawking floats on a zero-gravity jet in 2007 AP 21/33 Pope Benedict XVI greets British professor Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican in 2008 Reuters 22/33 Prof Hawking on a visit to Cape Finestre, Spain, in 2008 AFP/Getty Images 23/33 Professor Stephen Hawking in Futurama 24/33 Stephen Hawking played himself in multiple episodes of 'The Big Bang Theory' 25/33 Hawking : World leaders and scientists pay tribute to famous physicist PA 26/33 Prof Hawking pictured in London in 2014 AFP/Getty Images 27/33 British physicist Stephen Hawking sits in the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games August 29, 2012. REUTERS/Toby Melville (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS) 28/33 David Walliams, Professor Stephen Hawking and Catherine Tate for Red Nose Day 2015 Rex Features 29/33 Stephen Hawking with Jane Wilde and guests attend the EE British Academy Film Awards at The Royal Opera House in 2015 30/33 Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones presenting the Award for Special Visual Effects at the EE BAFTA British Academy Film Award 2015 Rex Features 31/33 Pope Francis greets physicist Stephen Hawking during an audience with participants at a plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in 2016 AP 32/33 Professor Stephen Hawking presenting winners Oxford's Balliol College (right) with the winning trophy after their victory by 190 points to 140 over Wolfson College Cambridge (left) in 2017 PA 33/33 Professor Stephen Hawking is presented with his illuminated Freedom scroll by the Chamberlain of the City of London Peter Kane as he receives the Honorary Freedom of the City of London during a ceremony at the Guildhall, London in 2017 AP

Professor Hawking died on March 14 aged 76.

The funeral will be a private affair and will take place at Great St Mary’s, the University Church.

While a private reception will be held afterwards at Trinity College.

In a statement, Professor Hawking’s children said: “On behalf of our whole family we want to express our huge gratitude for all the wonderful tributes to our father and to those who have sent us messages of condolence.

“Our father lived and worked in Cambridge for over 50 years. He was an integral and highly recognisable part of the university and the city. For this reason, we have decided to hold his funeral on this city he loved so much and which loved him.”

On the morning of his death, a book of condolence was opened up in the city.

The renowned physicist was born in Oxfordshire in 1942 and went on to study at both the University of Oxford and Cambridge.

But after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease in 1964 at the age of 22, he was given just a few years to live.

Yet against all odds Professor Hawking celebrated his 70th birthday nearly half a century later as one of the most famous scientists of the modern age.

Prof Hawking's crowning achievement was his prediction in the 1970s that black holes can emit energy, despite the classical view that nothing - not even light - can escape their gravity.

With Roger Penrose, he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implies space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes.