LONDON — Being laid to rest in Westminster Abbey is perhaps the greatest posthumous honor that can be given to any Briton, and when Stephen Hawking’s ashes were interred there on Friday, they were placed between the remains of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, two of the giants of science.

But rare though it may be, entry to what is sometimes called “Britain’s Valhalla” does not involve a complicated process, according to the Very Rev. John R. Hall, the Dean of Westminster.

Actually, he says, it’s up to him to decide.

An engaging, humorous and commanding figure, Dr. Hall relishes the history surrounding his unique position, and sees Professor Hawking’s ceremony in the context of the thousands that have come before in a place of worship that was founded more than a thousand years ago.

“We buried Isaac Newton here eight days after he died,” said Dr. Hall, speaking in his office next to the ancient abbey. “We also took an immediate decision in 1882 about Charles Darwin.”