
Tell HN: We've Lost An Engineering Luminary - Bob Davis (IEEE) - jcr
Hi HN,<p>I'm admittedly not very good at this sort of thing, so please try to be
patient, kind, and considerate.<p>Last week, engineering lost one of its most significant giants. You may
not recognize his name, but at this moment, as you read this message on
an electronic device over a network, you are standing on his shoulders.<p>His name was Bob Davis.<p>Bob spent most of his life as an active contributor and organizer for
the IEEE. Whether it was the sticky politics of getting many competing
interests to work together or solving the many supposedly unsolvable
engineering challenges, Bob was truly amazing. The technology and
networks you use every day are due, in part, to Bob's efforts at the
IEEE. Bob is one of the people you ought to thank for the bottom most
layers of networking (OSI Layer 1 &#38; 2). The list of Bob's achievements
is extensive, but more importantly, he truly understood the need for
collaboration and concensus.<p>Most all efforts are group efforts. If you take a step back from the
myth of the lone genius, you will see all the other people providing all
the required supporting contributions necessary for every supposedly
solitary success. Since there is no master list of all contributions and
contributors, no one can name all of the nameless people they ought to
thank. In this competitive world where a few receive fame and fortune,
try to remember the efforts of those few will always be trivial compared
to the combined contributions of the unnamed supporting masses.<p>To you, Bob is probably just one of the countless unnamed engineers who
made your life a little better through his efforts. To me, Bob was a
friend, an inspiration, and an all-round amazing person. I'll miss him.<p>Appreciation makes efforts more meaningful. It's too late for you to
thank Bob, but to turn a loss into a gain, I hope you'll look at
something you enjoy, find one of the unnamed people responsible for
creating it, and just tell them, thank you.
======
rooshdi
_In this competitive world where a few receive fame and fortune, try to
remember the efforts of those few will always be trivial compared to the
combined contributions of the unnamed supporting masses._

Well said and thank you for sharing. I've never met your friend, but I respect
his contributions and life as as fellow human. My sincere condolences to you,
his friends, and family.

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ChuckMcM
The same Bob Davis that was a technical director at NetApp? I am assuming so
since I don't know any other IEEE Bob Davis' out there.

I knew his web site went down (scsi.com) where did you hear of his passing? Is
there / was there a service?

~~~
codemac
Yes, Bob Davis was on the IEEE MSC, and was a TD at NetApp for a few years in
there... I'm not aware of any others. If this is true, I'm really sad to hear
this news.

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stephencanon
I was a member of the IEEE-754 (2008) committee; Bob was our MSC liaison. I
didn't know him well, but I was impressed by him. Considering that he wasn't a
floating-point expert, but his enthusiasm and nearly boundless patience with
the agonizingly slow standards process was truly impressive. He gave up an
enormous amount of his time to standards work that most engineers assume is
someone else's problem.

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Argorak
> I'm admittedly not very good at this sort of thing, so please try to be
> patient, kind, and considerate.

No one, except grieving professionals, really is.

Seriously, thank you for writing this piece the way you did, it is a good one.
You are right: I never heard of him. You made sure that I read your words
about the loss to the end and got to know what he did a little.

------
atdt
Thank you for sharing. My condolences on the loss of your friend.

~~~
B0Z
^

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42tree
Rest in peace

