…it is with great sadness that I report that Jack Eddy passed away yesterday.
– Dr. Leif Svalgaard in comments today
“My reasons for taking this less-traveled road were many. One is the inevitable thrill of discovery when you wander into new areas. More importantly, you also avoid the danger of being too comfortable in too narrow a niche. I truly believe the sayings that there is no hope for the satisfied man and that without fear there is no learning. Entering a new field with a degree in another is not unlike Lewis and Clark walking into the camp of the Mandans. You are not one of them. They distrust you. Your degree means nothing and your name is not recognized. You have to learn it all from scratch, earn their respect, and learn a lot on your own. But I also think that many of the most significant disc
overies in science will be found not in but between the rigid boundaries of the disciplines: the terra incognita where much remains to be learned. It’s not a place that’s hidebound by practice and ritual. I have always tried to keep moving between fields of study.” — Jack Eddy, 1999. Click here to view full text of Eddy interview
I didn’t know Jack Eddy personally, I knew of his work (the Maunder Minimum ) in 1978 before I knew he was the man behind it.
I think I speak for the entire WUWT community when I say that we have lost a man whom was true to his craft, careful in his outlook, and courageous in his challenge of the solar consensus of the 1970’s. The WUWT community, offers our sincerest condolences to the Eddy family and to his friend, Dr. Leif Svalgaard. – Anthony
Tributes can be left in comments.
UPDATE:
An online petition has been started to name the next solar minimum per Leif’s suggestion in comments:
Nearly 200 signatures so far.
In the end, there is no ‘official’ body that does naming of minima [as there is for craters on the Moon, etc, and asteroids, and the like]. So it comes down to what people decide should rule. All the SPD can do is to state what their suggested choice is. And the solar community ‘votes’ by using whatever individuals prefer to call it in future papers, over which nobody has [nor should have] any control.
Without humility there can be no Humanity.
Without Humanity science is meaningless.
How rare then, the meaningful scientist.
Jack Eddy: One of a rare breed.
May You Rest In Peace.
And, THANK YOU!
I was fortunate enough to know and work with Dr. Eddy at the High Altitude Observatory. I am not a scientist, but I can tell you that I have worked with many fine people, and Dr. Eddy is the finest of all. Always the consummate gentleman. Always the humorist. Never conceited. Those of us who knew him are now experiencing the “Eddy Minimum”, for without Jack Eddy, the world is not quite so bright a spot.
I, too, mourn the loss of this great astronomical figure. His knowledge and contributions have caused an unquestionable inprint in the fabric of our field. He has added a breadth of expertise to something that was once nebulous and an unknown frontier. My day is ruined.
Rest in Peace. God Speed.
“All of us who live here need to decide whether a nation with less than 5
percent of the world’s population should continue to give off nearly one
fourth of the gases that contribute to global warming.”
– John A. Eddy
I would also like to express my condolensces to the family of Dr. Jack
Eddy. I never had a chance to meet him, or even to hear him speak, but I can infer what a remarkable man he was through his work and through having met one of his children.