by Jin Jing, Gu Zhenqiu, Zhang Jiawei

LONDON, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Stephen Hawking's family members, including his first wife Jane Hawking and son and daughter Tim and Lucy Hawking, took turns laying bouquets of flowers around the renowned physicist's grave amid the surreal voices of the Westminster Abbey choir at the renowned physicist's memorial service here on Friday.

"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," Hawking's children had said earlier in a statement.

Between the remains of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, the late professor's ashes were laid by the Dean of Westminster Abbey, Dr John Hall.

"We shall give thanks for Stephen Hawking's remarkable gifts and for his life...for his personal courage, endurance, and perseverance," the Dean said during the service.

Dating back to more than a thousand years ago, Westminster Abbey has been the place for British coronations, royal weddings, and burials of Kings and Queens, along with the most respected figures throughout British history.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Hawking in a 2004 BBC biopic, and British astronaut Tim Peake, were among those who gave readings at the service.

One thousand members of the public from more than 100 countries, including some in wheelchairs, attended Friday's ceremony, after a ballot attracted over 25,000 applications for tickets.

Lee R Balthazor, the former president of Royal Aeronautical Society was invited to the service as a result of his close connection with Stephen Hawking. Balthazor worked with the Stephen Hawking Foundation two years ago to have a card signed with Hawking's thumbprint and sent to Peake on the space station.

"Professor Hawking really has inspired generations of people through the work that is done in physics and also in terms of inspiring young people and people with disability," Balthazor told Xinhua, "He has overcome through just sheer determination."

Professor Hawking died in March, aged 76, after a long battle with motor neurone disease.

A legendary figure in the modern history of physics, he broke new ground on the basic laws which govern the universe, including the revelation that black holes have a temperature and produce radiation, now known as Hawking radiation.

Hawking's words, having been set to an original score by Greek composer Vangelis, will be beamed into space towards the nearest black hole after the service.

Pau Figueras, a post-doctoral student who followed in Hawking's footsteps by studying black holes at the University of Cambridge eight years ago, said he believed Hawking's legacy "will live forever."

Interacting with Hawking, who spoke through electronic communication devices, was "very difficult," said Figueras, noting that sometimes it took Hawking about five minutes to finish a sentence.

But Hawking is a reminder of how strong a person can be in face of grave adversities, he told Xinhua.

Hawking's influence on the public is far-reaching. Outside the abbey, emotions were also running high for those who were not able to get in.

Heidi Collie, a high school student who had travelled from Birmingham to come to the service, had been waiting outside the abbey since early Friday morning. She started reading Hawking's books about five years ago and had written to him a few times. The 17-year-old aspires to study physics at university later this year.

"Everything he has been through and yet all the work he's achieved through that. He is just an inspiration," said Collie.