Stephen Hawking’s voice to be beamed into black hole

Satellite will broadcast “message of peace
and hope” after Westminster Abbey memorial service

One-Minute Read

The physicist, famed for his research into black holes and
relativity, died at the age of 76 on 14 March and was
cremated at a private ceremony in Cambridge.

His ashes will be interred today at a ceremony attended by
1,000 people, from 100 different countries, who were selected from
25,000 applicants.

A message recorded by the physicist will then be beamed into a
black hole thousands of lightyears outside of the solar system,
says US-based news site Tech Times. Hawking’s words have set
to an original score by composer
Vangelis, famous for his Chariots of
Fire film theme

Speaking to the BBC,  the physicist’s daughter, Lucy
Hawking, said the music is a “beautiful and symbolic gesture that
creates a link between our father’s presence on this planet, his
wish to go into space and his explorations of the universe in his
mind.”

“It is a message of peace and hope, about unity and the
need for us to live together in harmony on this planet”, she
said.

A transcript of the message has not been released, but European
Space Agency exploration chief Mark McCaughrean told CNN that it is “pretty sombre” and centres
around humanity taking care of Earth.

Once the message has been transmitted into space, everyone
invited to the ceremony will be given a CD of the recording. It
will be made available to the wider public “at a later date”, the
US news site adds.