Sending Words of Peace and Hope into Space

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On 15 June, at the conclusion of a memorial service for Stephen Hawking held in Westminster Abbey, England, a message of peace and hope written by the great British theoretical physicist was released into space. Hawking died in March 2018 at the age of 76, after a long disabling illness (Lou Gehrig’s disease) that was diagnosed when he was twenty-one.

His family said that the message sent into space was recorded on the background of an original composition by Vangelis, a Greek musician and the composer of many successful soundtracks. The message was transmitted by Cebreros, the radio-telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) located in Spain, which directed it toward the black holes that Hawking had studied and researched intensively.

Lucy, the physicist’s daughter, said that it is a very significant message for today’s world because it is a plea for “peace, hope, unity and the need to live in a united way on this planet.”