A total of 22 personal possessions of the beloved physicist, the late Stephen Hawking, will be auctioned at Christie's by the end of October.
Months after the cosmic visionary passed away, the online auction and private sales organization announced its science sale that will also feature papers by prominent scientists Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein. The auction will be open for bids starting Oct. 31 until Nov. 8.
In Memory Of Stephen Hawking
On Monday, Oct. 22, Christie's announced the online sale that will include wheelchairs, scientific papers, some of the awards received, and a few others. One of the most coveted items in the list is a copy of his doctorate thesis, Properties of Expanding Universe, which was written in 1965 when he was 24 years old.
Only five copies of the Ph.D. thesis exist — although a digital copy was made available online for free by Cambridge University Library's Open Access Week last year. The copy of the thesis available for auction is signed by Hawking by hand. It is expected to fetch £100,000 to £150,000 or about $130,000 to $195,000, according to AP News.
Meanwhile, Hawking's wheelchairs have become a symbol for his disability. The scientist was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age of 22 and was eventually strapped into his wheelchair, unable to walk again.
Throughout his life, he went through several high-tech wheelchairs. One of the wheelchairs included in the sale has an estimated price of £10,000 t0 £15,000 or about $13,000 to $19,000.
The auction will also include the original script from one of Hawking's appearances on the animated television series, The Simpsons, and a copy of his best-selling book A Brief History of Time signed and with a thumbprint.
All items will be on display in London from Oct. 30. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Stephen Hawking Foundation, which facilitates scientific researches, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Stephen Hawking Dies
Hawking passed away on March 14 in his home in Cambridge, England. He was 76 years old. He is now buried between Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton at the Westminster Abbey.
