
RIP Jim Gray - Closure in Disappearance of Computer Scientist  - yarapavan
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/closure-in-disappearance-of-computer-scientist-jim-gray/
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fogus
Dr. Gray wrote "Transaction Processing"[1] that has proven indispensable in my
career and a generally great book. I didn't know the man, but he influenced me
deeply from afar. RIP.

[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/Transaction-Processing-Concepts-
Techni...](http://www.amazon.com/Transaction-Processing-Concepts-Techniques-
Management/dp/1558601902)

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monk_the_dog
There's an inspiring article in The Communications of the AMC on the group of
people who came together to help search for Jim Gray when he disappeared:
[http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/7/109892-searching-for-
ji...](http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/7/109892-searching-for-jim-
gray/fulltext)

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drallison
Jim was a friend. I guess this is closure of a sort, but he is still missed.

~~~
corin_
I feel bad for asking, but I hope you won't mind - is this actually closure of
any sort other than legal? This legal declaration doesn't mean you have any
more or less chance of seeing your friend again than you had a week ago, or a
month ago. Belated condolences to you and others who knew Jim.

~~~
drallison
It really is only legal closure. We do not know what happened to him. There
are not clues, no debris, and no where else to look. <sigh>

We did a short memorial at Stanford which can be viewed. See
<http://ee380.stanford.edu/permlinks/Grey.html> for abstract and link to the
video.

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selectnull
There is a great video, part of Behind the Code series at Channel 9, interview
with Jim Gray from 2006.

[http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Behind+The+Code/Conversation-...](http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Behind+The+Code/Conversation-
with-scientist-engineer-and-database-legend-Jim-Gray)

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carlhu
I was at Microsoft Research and on the SQL Server Transaction Engine Team when
he was there. He was a generous and inspiring leader and teacher. RIP.

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6ren
A Conversation with Jim Gray <http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=864078>

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jroseattle
Dr. Gray was someone who worked at the core, conceptual level of computer
science and brought it to application-level form. He gave a speech at a
conference I attended, and I recall him so naturally gifted and the ease with
which he understood technology. He was just on a higher plane than most
everyone else.

RIP, Dr. Gray. And best wishes to his family and friends for peace and
closure.

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cek
I am blessed with how much I learned, and am still learning from Jim Gray. I
<3 storage because of him. RIP.

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SagelyGuru
Lots more bizarre deaths of computer scientists. Could this be related?

<http://www.whale.to/b/sdi.html>

~~~
pjscott
Deaths happen often enough that you'd expect unusual ones to co-occur once in
a while. It's the macabre cousin of the Birthday Paradox:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem>

