I had no idea he also worked in science outside the forum. It's very rare indeed for someone to be able to be held in such high esteem across such varied fields. Even if we on the forum can't be there in person to show our respects, I'm sure many, many will. Rest in peace.
He was an astrophysicist, apparently quite an eminent one. I'm not sure if we have a decided-upon approach yet for whether and how to allow discussion of his offline life in the context of his forum memorial, but he did some pretty impressive things, mostly in the burgeoning field of studying galaxies outside the Local Group.
If his mother checks the forum again and sees this thread, I hope she takes some comfort in how much this community loved, valued, and admired her son.
I understand the concern over allowing discussion of his offline life and the concerns over confirming his real-life identity. That said, I would love to read more about his work if those discussions do ever happen.
I'm sure some users on the forum know. He was active for almost two decades.
I think a rule against this exists, though. I'm one of the most socially-inept people I've met and even I think, say, linking muon's wikipedia page would go over poorly.
