Invitation to ETI: We Remember

We Remember...

With respect and affection, the members of the Invitation to ETI group remember the contributions of several late colleagues.

Mr. Poul Anderson was a distinguished fantasy and science fiction author who won 7 Hugo awards, 3 Nebula awards, and the SFWA Grand Master award. His writing reflected his lively science-based imagination about alien intelligence and about humanity's far future. He was a supportive and enthusiastic member of the Invitation to ETI group. A major figure at the annual CONTACT conference, he dedicated his recent Starfarers novel "to Jim Funaro, who has led many a contact mission." During a simulation at CONTACT 2000, he and Barbara Joans and Allen Tough were on the human team that carried on a text-only dialogue with the alien artificial intelligence team, the first time that CONTACT role-playing involved AI. On July 31, 2001, at the age of 74, he returned home to receive hospice care after kidney failure brought on by prostate cancer. He died that evening. Karen Anderson wrote "In Poul's last hours, messages poured in from strangers who told how they had learned honor and courage from his writing, courtesy and kindness from his personal example."

Mr. Chris Boyce, who lived in Glasgow, Scotland, was an enthusiastic and stimulating member of the Invitation to ETI group . He wrote Extraterrestrial Encounter and two science fiction novels, and his web pages provided many fresh ideas about extraterrestrial probes. He died suddenly on June 30, 1999, at the age of 55.

Dr. David L. Tough (1907-1999) provided encouragement and financial support for the Invitation to ETI. He was married to Margaret (Marnie), a librarian from Montreal. Their two children are Allen Tough, a SETI researcher and futurist, and the late Margaret O'Regan, a chief librarian and high school librarian. During his long career in education, David Tough's posts included teacher at Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute, principal at Forest Hill Collegiate, and president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation. He became director of education for the Toronto suburb of North York in the 1950s, when it was generally considered the fastest growing school system in Canada. A tree in memory of Dave and Marnie Tough is in Windfields Park (beside 20 Penwood Crescent), and a tree in memory of their daughter Margie Tough O'Regan is in Mike Bela Park at Leslie St. and Lawrence Ave., Toronto.

Dr. Bobbie Vaile was an astronomer and senior lecturer at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. She helped with ideas in the very early stages of this project, particularly during a leisurely lunch in a sunny corner of an Oslo restaurant. A dynamic and wonderfully caring person, Bobbie was intensely interested in SETI and used it as a cornerstone of an innovative and stimulating physics course. In 1995 she served as a full-fledged member of the Project Phoenix observing team and also played a key role in founding SETI Australia. After a seven-year struggle with a brain tumor, she died on November 13, 1996, at the age of 37.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, CBE, was born in the British coastal town of Minehead in 1917, but he moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, remaining there until his death on 19 March 2008 from post-polio syndrome. In 1945 he published the technical paper "Extraterrestrial Relays," establishing the principles of satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits, a concept that was realized 20 years later. Today, the geostationary orbit at 42,000 kilometers is named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union. He is well known around the world through his more than 100 books (70,000,000 copies), his movies, and his 3 television series. Many space and SETI scientists credit his movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as a major influence on their career choice, and HAL is still mentioned often in discussions of artificial intelligence. He also serves as the Chancellor of the International Space University. When invited to join the Invitation to ETI group, he replied, "Delighted to join, of course! After all, this was the basis for The Sentinel, which led to 2001." Many people around the world are familiar with Clarke's First Law (When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he [or she] is almost certainly right: when he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong) and his Third Law (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the United States is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to the study and recognition of developments in space, telecommunications and information and, in particular, building on the extraordinary contributions of Arthur C. Clarke. The Foundation also is the parent organization that supports the mission of the Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and Information (CITI). Most recently, the Arthur Clarke Marine Education Centre was established in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka. A personal remembrance of Sir Arthur by Prof. H. Paul Shuch, principal investigator for the Invitation to ETI, is posted here.

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