Stephen Hawking earns himself a tribute in gaming

Stephen Hawking's life is one worth celebrating. The physicist died March 14th 2018 and was well-known for his many scientific works, such as the 'Hawking radiation'. Because of his many theories about space and black holes, the gaming community of Elite: Dangerous organized a special tribute to Hawking that took 5 full hours.

Stephen Hawking earns himself a tribute in gaming

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CMDRs has organized a tour to celebrate the life of Stephen Hawking in Elite: Dangerous by Frontier Developments Saturday March 17th 2018. The event served as a tribute to Stephen Hawking, commemorating his scientific achievements and his life, which was also famous for his illness, ALS.

CMDRs stated about the event in the announcement

CMDRs, (…) would like to invite you to take tea with Prof. Hawking on a tour of the Stations named after him to mark his passing. The tour will take place this coming Saturday (17/03/18)between 17:00 and 22:00 UTC. (…)
The tour is proposed to begin at Hawking Station in Gaoh. It will visit each of the other 19 stations that bear his name and end at a Black Hole at HIP 34707 The route takes approximately 5 hours to complete at a reasonable pace and assuming an additional stop to pick up Tea.
We would like you all to bring a canister or two of Tea with you, which we can all drop at the destination black hole. Tea was the great man's favourite drink so it seems an appropriate tribute commodity. 
Prof. Hawking's car number plate allegedly once was T4 SWH, so as well as naming the event in this way, we ask also that everyone who has them change their ID plates to T4 SWH in his honour. 

Stephen Hawking earns himself a tribute in gaming - List of locations

Fans have commented positively on the tribute, as Stephen Hawking has led scientific research to a better understanding of space. Elite: Dangerous being a game taking place in space, it's only fitting that they've honored Stephen Hawking in such a way. Frontier Developments is known to have an active community, as is evident from other titles. The more well-known Planet Coaster is filled with fan contributions to add gameplay value.

While this initiative has been both appropiate and succesful, it's not common to link gaming events to celebrities or scientists like Stephen Hawking. Whether this tribute leads to more similar events in the future, remains to be seen. 

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