Condolence Messages

My condolences to Tom's family.

May Tom's personality, dedication and work continue to be an inspiration to all.

Michiel

Mike just emailed me this sad news of Toms passing.

I've known Tom since I was about 16 years old (thirty years ago!), when I first heard him talk to the National Capital Astronomers (amateur astronomers club), about the anomalous Uranus system. I was an avid amateur at the time, and I was intrigued and attracted to his novel thinking. Tom and I took an immediate liking to each other, and I remember he once arranged a night time visit to the Naval Observatory's Clarke refractor for me... I had stars in my eyes in those days (about astronomy).

I liked Tom a lot and of course was enthusiastic about his contrarian position in astronomy, which I discovered when we bumped into each other again in 1990 at the annual Division of Planetary Sciences conference in Charlottesville. I had already gone a different path with my career, straying from astronomy to become a technical illustrator after college, but my interest and intellectual pursuit of astronomy never left me. I became involved in the preparations for his book Dark Matter...

Through his work and the books (also Pushing Gravity, edited by Edwards), and the ongoing works in Metaresearch, he taught me a lot about how things work in the world (as well as outside the world). For this I will always be grateful - he changed my life priorities and worldview.

Over the years, Tom was always available to answer my questions or suggestions, which would usually be triggered by my readings in the MRB, or also by my readings elsewhere that I would bring to his attention. I dont know if that was ever of use to him, but he was always kind and enthusiastic and informative in his discussions with me. His uncompromising approach to the science of astronomy, and his zeal for life and truth remain an inspiration to me!

Im sure many others are similarly inspired by Toms life and work, and as can be seen on this board, people will carry on for him - carrying forward his life philosophy or science or both. His contribution to astronomy is already no doubt considerable, and through the ongoing work of his friends, it will be magnified as time passes.

Even though we had only infrequent correspondence in recent years, I'm going to miss Tom a great deal!


Good bye, my dear friend.


Boris

Going to miss the man who let me show my images my way, he's now a Star in the Heavens

I am greatly saddened to learn of Tom's passing. He was a truly enlightened scholar and an enlightening teacher. I have often thought how lucky I have been to have learned from him the answers to, well, life, the universe and everything. His commitment to his beliefs was exceeded only by his dedication to the principles of fairness and freedom of expression. The very existence of this messageboard is testimony to those ideals. I am grateful for the patience he showed me in our correspondence and conversations, and for the fact that we had them at all.

I may be wrong, but it seems reasonable that we'll meet up with Tom again someday - an infinite universe offers infinite possibilities.

I was shocked to learn that Dr Van Flandern passed away. This world has lost a great scientist and astronomer. His ideas and theories have inspired many including myself and I hope that what we've learned from him would lead us to a better understanding of the cosmos.

I have not visited the Metaresearch site for quite a while, and was shocked to find that Tom has recently passed away. My condolences go to all his family.

I hope very much that Tom's spirit continues to live on in this message board, which for me has been one of the few places on the web over the last few years where one could freely discuss new ideas in a friendly environment.

Thomas