The UK's Royal Mint has unveiled a new 50 pence coin with an illustration of a black hole in honour of Stephen Hawking's work.
ADVERTISEMENTStephen Hawking's legacy is being honoured by the Royal Mint with a new 50 pence piece.
The new coin — which was inspired by Hawking's work on black holes outlined in his bestselling book "A Brief History of Time" — has an engraving of the late scientist's name along with an illustration of concentric circles, supposed to depict a black hole.
It also sports Hawking's famous equation on the black hole theory.
The coin was made for a commemoration edition, which is not circulated as normal change.
The theoretical physicist died last year at age 76 after living with the muscle-wasting disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that left him wheelchair-bound and unable to communicate without the help of a machine for much of his life.
Hawking's children, Lucy and Tim visited the Royal Mint on Thursday to see the new coin.
In his lifetime, Hawking held the prestigious role of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University for 30 years.