How to enter the ballot for Stephen Hawking’s memorial service at Westminster Abbey

Physicist’s children offering 1,000 free tickets to Service of Thanksgiving to members of the public

Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking died in March at the age of 76
(Image credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize Foundation)

Admirers of Stephen Hawking can enter a ballot for a chance to pay their respects in person at a memorial service in his honour at Westminster Abbey next month.

On 15 June, his ashes will be interred at Westminster Abbey, between the graves of fellow scientific luminaries Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, at a ceremony in celebration of his life and career.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Hawking’s three children have announced that 1,000 tickets to the service of thanksgiving are to be made available to the public through random ballot.

You can enter by filling in a form on the Stephen Hawking Internment website. The ballot will close at midnight on 15 May.

“We are so grateful to Westminster Abbey for offering us the privilege of a service of thanksgiving for the extraordinary life of our father and for giving him such a distinguished final resting place,” his daughter, Lucy Hawking, said.

“We are also very pleased to be able to offer tickets to the public so that our father's many admirers will have the chance to join in the service.”

Those who miss out on tickets will still get a chance to pay their respects: Westminster Abbey will open its doors to the public free of charge following the service to allow admirers to visit Hawking’s grave.