Where was Stephen Hawking's memorial service held?

Stephen Hawking’s memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey.

The service was a service of thanksgiving held on 15 June 2018, several months after Hawking died at his Cambridge home on 14 March. It was not the same event as his private funeral, which took place on 31 March at Great St Mary’s Church in Cambridge and followed a traditional Anglican service.

After the Westminster Abbey service, Hawking’s ashes were interred in the Abbey’s nave. His memorial stone was placed near the graves of two scientific figures whose work is closely associated with his own intellectual legacy: Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

The location reflects Hawking’s exceptional status in British scientific life. Westminster Abbey is the traditional resting place of many monarchs and prominent national figures, but it also commemorates major scientists. Hawking’s stone includes the inscription “Here lies what was mortal of Stephen Hawking” and an equation expressing the temperature of Hawking radiation.

A common mistake is to answer Great St Mary’s Church, which was the venue for his funeral—not the later memorial service.