Stephen Hawking Buried Between Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 15: The Dean of Westminster accompanies Hawking's first wife Jane Hawking as her daughter Lucy Hawking places flowers on her father's grave. The physicist died in March at the age of 76. (Image credit: Ben Stansall/WPA Pool/Getty)

Stephen Hawking, the towering physics icon who died in March at age 76, was buried today (June 15) between Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Hawking's memorial service took place at Westminster Abbey in London, and his ashes were interred between the two British scientists. Atop his grave was a plaque inscribed with an equation that supported his most famous theory — of so-called Hawking radiation, which can leak out of a black hole until it evaporates away, the Daily Beast reported.

At the memorial service, his voice, set to a song by the composer Vangelis, was beamed into the nearest black hole.

Originally published on Live Science.

Tia Ghose

Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.