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Robert N. Hall, whose discoveries led to microwave ovens, died in 2016
- nickm12 8y agoThis is fascinating. I've never seen an obituary published so long after someone's death before.
- sparky_z 8y agoIndeed. I can only think of one other, which probably holds the record. https://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21571379-richard-plantagenet-englands-most-controversial-king-was-officially-rediscovered-february https://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21571379-richard-pla...
- NaOH 8y agoNone of the obituaries come close to matching the elapsed time of Richard III, but the NY Times has started publishing obituaries of overlooked individuals since the paper started publishing in 1851. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlook...
- nickm12 8y agoThis is a different thing, though. In the case of Robert Hall, the NYT had written the obituary ahead of time, as is typical practice, but the passing was not even noted.
- Stratoscope 8y ago> In a 2012 interview for this obituary, he talked about the pleasure he took in a life of science. That has to be one of the eeriest and most flattering calls one could ever receive: "Hi, I'm from the New York Times, and I would like to interview you for your obituary."
- sp332 8y agoThey try to be circumspect about it, like "Hey famous person, I haven't heard about you for a while. What have you been up to?" but it's still pretty obvious what it's about.
- MarkMc 8y agoReminds me of the 'Overheard in the Goldman Sachs Elevator' joke: #1: I asked him what his life goal is, and he said 'to make the obituary in The Economist.' #2: Great answer. https://twitter.com/GSElevator/status/365243105886216192?s=19 https://twitter.com/GSElevator/status/365243105886216192?s=1...
- aerovistae 8y agoHe died in 2016, to be clear.
- sizzzzlerz 8y agoYou mean the Done bell only went off now?