Friends, family and fans of physicist Stephen Hawking have flooded the streets of Cambridge to farewell one of the world’s leading scientists.
On March 14, Hawking’s family confirmed that he died peacefully in his sleep after a lifetime battle with motor neurone disease. Thousands of people lined the streets outside the Great St Mary’s Church to pay respect for someone they say wasn’t just a great scientist, but a great man.
Hollywood actor Eddie Redmayne, who won a Golden Globe for playing Hawking in the 2014 biopic The Theory of Everything, was one of many mourners who gave a speech at the funeral. He read from Ecclesiastes 3.1-11, while eulogies were delivered by his oldest son, Robert, and his former colleague, Professor Fay Dowker.
“He inspired people with the excitement and importance of pure scientific enquiry and was admired and revered for his devotion, as a scholar, to the pursuit of knowledge,” Professor Dowker said at the funeral, according to the BBC.
“I, like many who knew and loved him, had come to think of him as immortal and our sorrow is tinged with a feeling of disbelief that he is no longer here. But his influence and legacy will live forever.”
Applause as Professor Stephen Hawking's casket arrives as his funeral begins
Live updates here: https://t.co/VV4E9Hgs6R pic.twitter.com/kQCllJR5ZV
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 31, 2018
Other celebrities including Queen guitarist Brian May and The Theory of Everything actress Felicity Jones were in attendance of the service, which was officiated by Reverend Dr Cally Hammond, Dean of Gonville and Caius College.
In addition to the thousands of members of public who waited on the streets outside the church, 500 of Hawking’s family members, friends and colleagues attended the private service inside. The large crowd broke into applause as Hawking’s coffin arrived at the church, with six porters from the professor’s former college, Gonville and Caius, carrying him from the hearse and inside the church. Reports claim that each porter was a personal friend of Hawking, regularly assisting him when he visited the college throughout his life.
As seen in video footage, his coffin was decorated with a beautiful arrangement of white lilies, representing the universe that was such a big part of Hawking’s life and research. More white roses were also placed on top of the coffin, with representing the polar star.
Mourners line the street and applaud as Stephen Hawking enters St Mary’s Church in Cambridge. Via @HaskanKaya pic.twitter.com/6EJgttdij3
— Greg Hogben (@MyDaughtersArmy) March 31, 2018
Paying tribute to his life, the church bell rang a total of 76 times – one for each year Hawking lived. Hawking will be remembered in London later this year when his ashes are interred next to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton at Westminster Abbey.
The world was shocked last month when Hawking’s children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, issued a statement confirming his death.
On March 31, Eddie Redmayne arrived at the funeral of Stephen Hawking, at the University Church of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge.
Eddie honored the memory of the scientist as he read a passage from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11. pic.twitter.com/OmZd0JZnpK— eddie redmayne (@bestofeddie) March 31, 2018
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years,” they said. “His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”
The University of Cambridge also opened a book of condolence for those wishing to pay tribute to his life.
Proudly Australian owned and operated