Tardis Optional: Time Travelers Invited To Stephen Hawking Service

By Alexis Diao / NPR

Published May 12, 2018 at 9:47 AM PDT

This story was published more than 5 years ago.

In this Feb. 25, 2012 photo, Professor Stephen Hawking poses beside a lamp titled 'black hole light' presented to him during his visit to the Science Museum in London. A service will be held for him in the same city this June. Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by disease, died in March 2018.

Stephen Hawking's ashes will be interred at Westminster Abbey this June. He'll take his place among giants — between Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Applications to attend a Service of Thanksgiving are open to the public, and anyone — including people born in 2038, can apply. A thousand spaces are available.

Hawking was a theoretical physicist who changed the way scientists think about the universe with his early work on black holes. He died in March 2018, and was probably modern day's most well-known scientist — partly for his work, but also for his prevalence in pop culture. Hawking used a wheelchair and voice synthesizer due to his significant disabilities from ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

The time warp in the memorial service application was first spotted by London blogger IanVisits. He writes on his blog that Hawking had once thrown a party for time travelers, sending out invitations after the fete, to see if anyone would show up. Spoiler: no one did, yet.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Hawking said the fact that no one showed up to the June 2009 party was "experimental evidence that time travel is not possible," according to the BBC.

Applications close May 15 at midnight.