

Police ID Man Found In Water: Dr James Martin - muloka
http://bernews.com/2013/06/police-id-man-found-in-water-dr-james-martin/

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seldo
I just read his selected bibliography on wikipedia (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Martin_(author)#Publicat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Martin_\(author\)#Publications)
) and I somehow never realized that all these foundational works of computer
science were written by the same guy. "Design of real time computer systems"
in particular is part of the bedrock of modern computing.

~~~
wglb
We referenced that book heavily back when we were building a real-time medical
data acquisition system. I still remember some of the charts from it. Like
optimizing for lowest disk latency.

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lotharbot
Seems it's time for the HN memorial black navbar to make its appearance.

Dr. Martin will be missed.

~~~
77887
I know your comment is well intentioned but it still rubs me the wrong way so
I apologize if I offend you in any way since that is not really my point.

It feels wrong to tell the web master that he should modify the website to pay
tribute to somebody you think is important (whether true or not I'm not sure
it is really relevant). Especially considering that I myself do not know who
the guy is and yet I've been in the field for 10 years (call me stupid).

The whole comment feels quite presumptuous. Honoring Aaron Swartz seemed like
a no brainer but other than that is it really OK to put PG on the spot. What
happens if he decides not to do it, will you think of him badly?

~~~
coldtea
You are over-thinking it.

~~~
77887
That is funny. I've been told many times that I over think stuff. Turns out a
lot of time it is true and it probably is this time.

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bostonpete
I never seem to learn about these interesting people until they're dead. :-/

~~~
wglb
His work hasn't been so much in the collective consciousness in the last 25
years or so, so it isn't that surprising.

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alexholehouse
His donation to Oxford funded some of my early postgraduate work back in 2009.

I actually had an opportunity to meet with him a couple of weeks after I began
the work, but not knowing who he was (or being particularly computer-history
savy at the time) I didn't push it. In hindsight (not just today, but
generally) I've always regretted not realizing who he was at the time.

~~~
contingencies
Some interesting stuff going on in that part of Oxford:
[http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/videos/](http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/videos/)

Also (from a comment in the article)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9JUmFWn7t4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9JUmFWn7t4)
is an interview with the man himself and
[http://www.jamesmartin.com/film/](http://www.jamesmartin.com/film/) a longer
video.

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irremediable
I'm really sad to hear about this. Dr Martin was an amazing man. His work
helped change our world, but few people have heard of him.

Most of all, I respect his philanthropy. He cared about cost-effective
philanthropy. He focused on the most important problems facing humanity -- I
think he more or less bankrolled the field of existential risk research.

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jaysonelliot
This is terrible, sad news. "The Wired Society" is a milestone in technology
writing—James Martin predicted today's world with eerie prescience, all the
way back in the 1970s. I read that book as a child, and I still go back to it
and marvel at how right he was.

Rest in peace, Dr. Martin. You made a dent in the world.

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muloka
Indeed it is. Its sad, looks like this was accidental. This guy was a legend.

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dlitz
"Dr. Martin’s lifeless body was found floating in the waters ... at this time
there does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances."

What?

~~~
adamors
He was 79. It's very possible he drowned without any foul play.

~~~
schainks
people fall down by accident sometimes, and it's more dangerous for older folk
to fall, no?

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muloka
Oxford Martin School pays tribute to Dr. James Martin on its website's front
page:

[http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/](http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/)

~~~
jbrooksuk
This is a great example of why Bootstrap can be good. That site uses
Bootstrap, if it wasn't for the buttons would anyone have noticed that?

Anyway, RIP Doc!

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muloka
Surprised this story has not yet been covered by any major news outlets, tech
or otherwise.

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nahoskins
Tragic

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muloka
The title should of read:

Creator of Rapid Application Development, Dr James Martin, dies at 79

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unreal37
Somehow that's not nearly enough.

Amazing that he was able to buy his own island and donate $100MM+ to Oxford
University.

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GeorgeTirebiter
Hi, this is a small nit about your comment: You say "... $100MM+ ..." but how
is that different than "... $100M+ ..." ? If it's not different, then why
double the "M"? Thanks! (Perhaps it's just a typo.)

~~~
dagw
Different areas have different conventions, leading to some confusion. Finance
uses MM for a million, the physical sciences use M. In the the finance case
'M' comes from the Latin 'mille', meaning thousand, so MM means thousand
thousand. In the sciences M means Mega (from the Greek meaning 'Great'), which
is the SI prefix for 10^6

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twasfm
He figured out that P=NP and the CIA had him whacked.

