R.I.P. Tom Marsh (1961-2022)
I was deeply shocked by the terrible news about the mysterious disappearance of Tom Marsh just a few weeks after our last meeting in August. Almost every day I checked different internet sources hoping to find good news before the tragic one appeared about finding his body.
I first learned about Tom in the late 1980s when I was a student working on modeling double-peaked profiles of emission lines from accreting discs. I was thrilled about the prospect of a new method of Doppler tomography, developed by Tom Marsh and Keith Horne in 1988. Since then I started reading all of Tom’s papers. He was a great and inspirational scientist.
I first met Tom in person in June of 1998, when we both attended the Summer School “Astrophysical Discs” in Cambridge, Tom was a lecturer, and I was a participant. I was impressed that he was always surrounded by young colleagues with whom he generously shared his vast knowledge. Since then, we have met many times at different conferences and also on La Palma, where Tom often observed.
I wish I had the opportunity to work with Tom closer, but I’m glad that I had the privilege to collaborate with Tom on several projects. The last time we had a long discussion was in August in Tuebingen, just a few weeks before Tom’s disappearance.
I send my deepest condolences to Tom’s family and friends. This is a great loss to all of us but he will remain in our hearts forever. May you rest in peace, Tom.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 at 14:53 and is filed under Astronomy, Blog, Official, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.