LAHORE – Belongings of Late scientists Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein were auctioned by Christie’s on Thursday.
Hawking’s motorized wheelchair and a set of his medals and awards have been sold for a combined total of nearly £600,000, while a copy of his Ph.D. thesis raised almost the same amount on its own.
Medals and awards sold for £296,750, compared with an estimate of £15,000, while the red motorized wheelchair sold for £296,750, also compared with an estimate of £15,000.
One of Newton’s belonging: manuscripts sold for £100,000, a letter was written by Darwin went for £50,000 and a bidder agreed to pay £32,500 for one of Einstein’s manuscripts.
The auction was titled as “On the Shoulder of Giants” which is a reference to the famous phrase once used by Newton: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
The money raised by the sale of the wheelchair at the auction will go to Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neuron Disease Association.
Hawking died at the age of 76 in March, he suffered from motor neuron disease most of his life. The great scientist was famous for his work in exploring the origins of the universe.
The physicist’s daughter, Lucy, said Christie’s had been helping the family & “manage our beloved father’s unique and precious collection of personal and professional belongings.”
“The sale gave admirers of his work the chance to acquire a memento of our father’s extraordinary life in the shape of a small selection of evocative and fascinating items”, she added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_40nJ54fkk
RIP Brilliant Scientist!
