Notable Deaths In The Past Fortnight

tightropetom

(Sorry for the typo in the title) - should read 'Notable Deaths In The Past Fortnight'. I type too fast, I guess...

I find the outpouring of melancholy sentiment quite interesting this week for the death of a certain well known person. Melancholy sentiments abound for a person who essentially made a slightly different version of a day to day device. Yes, his company has revolutionised the way we look at communications, but at the end of the day, people have died this week who have also made a great contribution to the world, and we don't hear anything about them.

Is it to do with modern 'celebrity culture'?

This is not a 'bash Steve Jobs' thread - I have to admit I was waiting with baited breath for the iPhone 5 announcement myself.

Here are some examples of others who have significantly impacted on humanity and who died recently:

Wilson Greatbatch (September 6, 1919 – September 27, 2011) was an American engineer and inventor who is most widely known as the inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker.

Wangari Maathai, 71, of Nairobi, Kenya, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sept. 26 of cancer. Inspired by her childhood in rural Kenya, where she saw forests cleared for commercial plantations, she combined environmentalism and social activism. She founded the Green Belt Movement, mobilizing poor women to plant 30 million trees over 30 years. She also taught at the University of Nairobi and served in Kenya's parliament

Former Archbishop Phillip Matthew Hannan, 98, of New Orleans, who sought to console a grieving world with his eulogy for John F. Kennedy, died Sept. 29.

Ralph Marvin Steinman (January 14, 1943 – September 30, 2011) was a Canadian immunologist and cell biologist, who in 1973 coined the term dendritic cells. Won the Nobel Prize for Medicine this year (shared).

I've never heard of any of them really.

smash

Yea but none of them helped introduce me to angry birds.

ch750536

Even more so when you consider he was an ill tempered arrogant implementor of others ideas.

He did make a lot of money for Apple though. The shareholders should be allowed to grieve in peace.

Duggy747

Steve jobs did far, far more for the technological world than just the iPhone / iPad / iPod.

I'm no fan of Apple but without him our world would be very different.

Plus, compared to these other people he was a very high profile character in the technological business he massively helped define and which the world so heavily operates on. It's understandable how he's known more to the public that than others who passed away during this time.

Unique User Name

Sorry to veer off topic slightly but if you noticed the typo in the title whilst writing the first line why not change it?

biko

You can change title by clicking edit and Advanced.
Anyhoo I changed it for you.

MetzgerMeister

Unique User Name wrote: »

Sorry to veer off topic slightly but if you noticed the typo in the title whilst writing the first line why not change it?

Read his "reason for editing" below his post

Mycroft H

A lot of people forget he did work in pixar around the time of toy story....

the groutch

RIP Wilson Greatbatch

Blazer

The thing is Steve was the CEO of a multinational company and responsible for 46,600 employees.
Millions upon millions of people used his products worldwide so he was always going to be well known especially in this day and age.

And out of your list below I'd only count Greatbatch as someone else who'd deserve it this level of world wide respect.

Maathi did some fantastic work for the environment in Kenya but let's be honest here...no one cares about Africa anymore...hundreds of countries helping african nations with aid/money etc and yet they still butcher and slaughter each other.
I don't mean this in a heartless way but you can't keep helping people and time after time see them repeat the same mistakes after mistakes.
A bishop that did an eulogy? big deal
And lastly the scientist..only for the fact he died before receiving the award no one would have heard about him..not even you. Unless you actually cure a disease will you actually be remembered.

Dotrel

iRIP one and all.

tightropetom

Sc@recrow wrote: »

A bishop that did an eulogy? big deal

And lastly the scientist..only for the fact he died before receiving the award no one would have heard about him..not even you. Unless you actually cure a disease will you actually be remembered.

I included the bishop's eulogy because at it's time, the world was a much smaller place and it reached around the world which was reeling from the recent tragedy.

Ralph Steinman, probably wouldn't have recognised the name, but his work in immunology has had huge implications in modern medicine.

RachaelVO

I just heard the Wham Bar is not more


Wham Bar, you were total sh1te, and are probably responsible for more tooth loss than a little, but dammit I loved ya.

RIP you nasty piece of sugar and sherbet!

General General

Sc@recrow wrote: »

The thing is Steve was the CEO of a multinational company and responsible for 46,600 employees.
Millions upon millions of people used his products worldwide so he was always going to be well known especially in this day and age.

And out of your list below I'd only count Greatbatch as someone else who'd deserve it this level of world wide respect.

Maathi did some fantastic work for the environment in Kenya but let's be honest here...no one cares about Africa anymore...hundreds of countries helping african nations with aid/money etc and yet they still butcher and slaughter each other.
I don't mean this in a heartless way but you can't keep helping people and time after time see them repeat the same mistakes after mistakes.
A bishop that did an eulogy? big deal
And lastly the scientist..only for the fact he died before receiving the award no one would have heard about him..not even you. Unless you actually cure a disease will you actually be remembered.

Truly amazing statements.

Jaxxy

The people on the list above lived to a very good age in fairness!

FloatingVoter

I'm sure that several notable people died in 1963 (JFK is remembered). Others in 1977 (Elvis wins the prize that year). And in 1980 (John Lennon). Rightly or wrongly world figures / household names elicit a far bigger reaction.
The fact is the actual families and loved ones of all the above probably could have done without all the attention at the time of the loss.

Blazer

General General wrote: »

Truly amazing statements.

But true...many diplomats from different countries have expressed the same opinions..
I'm not stating that it's my opinion but that most countries no longer give a crap about Africa bar for it's diamonds industry etc.
Look at the genocide in Rwanda...no one lifted a finger to stop it.
The problem in Africa is there are many tribes and they don't see a neighbouring tribe as fellow countrymen but subhuman and to be destroyed.

Look again at the recent genocide in Darfur and yet again countries did nothing to stop.
Africa does nothing to help itself and is then surprised when countries don't bother either...there's only so long you can play the welfare card before people get sick of it.
I wish they could come to peace and help their citizens, the same with the middle east etc but at the end of the day man is a violent creature and always will be. What one man has another man will want, will take and will kill for it.

Mr Benevolent

General General wrote: »

Truly amazing statements.

True though.

ch750536

How is the world a different place because of him? No more than it is different because of me. He sold ****, I sell ****.

someone invented a pacemaker - that changes the world.

MagicMarker

ch750536 wrote: »

How is the world a different place because of him? No more than it is different because of me. He sold ****, I sell ****.

someone invented a pacemaker - that changes the world.

*Posted from an iPhone*

seamus

ch750536 wrote: »

How is the world a different place because of him? No more than it is different because of me. He sold ****, I sell ****.

While you can say that at the end of the day he was just a businessman, he had a knack for identifying what end-consumers wanted next and dragging them kicking & screaming into the market. All of things which made computers a device for use by normal people - fully assembled circuit boards, GUIs, the mouse, and so forth were primarily pioneered by Apple (or just Jobs). He didn't do it alone of course, he had smart people around him doing the actual work, but he was the lynchpin, he provided the vision that married all of these skills together and brought these innovations to the marketplace.

Would they have gotten to the public eventually? Yeah, probably. But perhaps not in the same way. The PC was the primary driver of the Internet. Without a way for your average Joe to operate a PC via GUI and mouse, they would remain the preserve of academics and technology gurus. The internet would be a tiny entity, just passing data back-and-forth between companies, not the mass-media ubiquitous entertainment machine that we now have.

Similarly, the iPhone was revolutionary. Touchscreens, web on your phone, music on your phone. Nothing new. But packaged in a way that encouraged you to use it. Without the iPhone making all of the other manufacturers sit up and think, "Oh ****", we'd still in 2011 be cooing over phones with clamshell designs, 4GB storage and rudimentary touch screens.

Similarly the iPad. Tablets were considered a pipe dream. Been there, done that, totally impractical. In two years, not only has the iPad created a market which never existed before, it's managed to create a huge market which never existed before, and left the others scrambling to catch up.

It'll still be another ten years before we know the full impact of the smartphones & tablet age on society.

In short, Jobs' vision has allowed Apple to be a company which consistently brings developments to the consumer market, well before anyone else does and in a way that's better than anyone else for a long time. This has had a profound effect on the consumer technology markets and in turn has caused a dramatic change in how society as a whole uses technology.

It would be fair to say that there is no-one in Western society, and few in other societies who have not been touched in some way by Steve Jobs' vision and business acumen. You don't have to save lives to change the world.

A person can hate Apple (Apple haters are just as irritating and childish as fanboys btw) and refuse to buy their products, but you own something which has in some way been significantly shaped by Jobs and Apple.

Duggy747

ch750536 wrote: »

How is the world a different place because of him?

He enourmously fast-tracked our technological evolution on computers, phones, the internet, etc, right down to the mp3 player.

He took niche concepts no other companies would touch and somehow managed to convince the general public to adopt them. He even managed to make "legal" downloading of mp3's possible when nobody in the industry would dare tackle the problem.

Our technological culture has changed because of him.

ch750536

seamus wrote: »

While you can say that at the end of the day he was just a businessman, he had a knack for identifying what end-consumers wanted next and dragging them kicking & screaming into the market

Na, for every success he had at least 10 failures.

seamus wrote: »

All of things which made computers a device for use by normal people - fully assembled circuit boards, GUIs, the mouse, and so forth were primarily pioneered by Apple (or just Jobs).

Wozniak. He made Apple 1 & 2. He was Apple.

seamus wrote: »

He didn't do it alone of course, he had smart people around him doing the actual work, but he was the lynchpin, he provided the vision that married all of these skills together and brought these innovations to the marketplace.

Most people he worked with didn't think that, they didn't trust him at all.

seamus wrote: »

Would they have gotten to the public eventually? Yeah, probably. But perhaps not in the same way. The PC was the primary driver of the Internet. Without a way for your average Joe to operate a PC via GUI and mouse, they would remain the preserve of academics and technology gurus. The internet would be a tiny entity, just passing data back-and-forth between companies, not the mass-media ubiquitous entertainment machine that we now have.

You saying he invented the internet now?

seamus wrote: »

Similarly, the iPhone was revolutionary. Touchscreens,

already done

seamus wrote: »

web on your phone

already done

seamus wrote: »

music on your phone

already done

seamus wrote: »

Nothing new.

Damn, you agree with me...

seamus wrote: »

But packaged in a way that encouraged you to use it. Without the iPhone making all of the other manufacturers sit up and think, "Oh ****", we'd still in 2011 be cooing over phones with clamshell designs, 4GB storage and rudimentary touch screens.

Nope, don't believe that at all. He drove design, not functionality.

seamus wrote: »

Similarly the iPad.

You mean that big IPhone?

seamus wrote: »

Tablets were considered a pipe dream. Been there, done that, totally impractical. In two years, not only has the iPad created a market which never existed before, it's managed to create a huge market which never existed before, and left the others scrambling to catch up.

Good marketing. As a piece of technology the ipad is pants.

seamus wrote: »

It'll still be another ten years before we know the full impact of the smartphones & tablet age on society.

Which was not jobs.

seamus wrote: »

In short, Jobs' vision has allowed Apple to be a company which consistently brings developments to the consumer market, well before anyone else does and in a way that's better than anyone else for a long time. This has had a profound effect on the consumer technology markets and in turn has caused a dramatic change in how society as a whole uses technology.

No, not really.

seamus wrote: »

It would be fair to say that there is no-one in Western society, and few in other societies who have not been touched in some way by Steve Jobs' vision and business acumen. You don't have to save lives to change the world.

He left 17 failed businesses.

seamus wrote: »

A person can hate Apple (Apple haters are just as irritating and childish as fanboys btw) and refuse to buy their products, but you own something which has in some way been significantly shaped by Jobs and Apple.

I hate people who follow rather than think. Apple depends on people following and not thinking.

ch750536

MagicMarker wrote: »

*Posted from an PC*

Fixed it for you.

ch750536

Duggy747 wrote: »

He enourmously fast-tracked our technological evolution on computers, phones, the internet, etc, right down to the mp3 player.

He took niche concepts no other companies would touch and somehow managed to convince the general public to adopt them. He even managed to make "legal" downloading of mp3's possible when nobody in the industry would dare tackle the problem.

Our technological culture has changed because of him.

Whats this 'He' bull****. Does no-one else work for apple?

hal9000

I think 99.99999% of people deserve respect in death, RIP to the above individuals.

Blazer

ch750536 wrote: »

Whats this 'He' bull****. Does no-one else work for apple?

You obviously don't have a clue what you're talking about so maybe you should read up more on him and Apple before opening your mouth again.:rolleyes:

ch750536

Sc@recrow wrote: »

You obviously don't have a clue what you're talking about so maybe you should read up more on him and Apple before opening your mouth again.:rolleyes:

I know plenty about steve jobs, good summary here for you

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/06/steve_jobs_bio_1/

groovie

Yesterday also deprived us of the guitar player Bert Jansch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOIt7fOgeFk

Here's Bert in action, and that is only one guitar that you are hearing.

Blazer

ch750536 wrote: »

I know plenty about steve jobs, good summary here for you

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/06/steve_jobs_bio_1/

lol..the register...enough said
should have know an android loving fanboy would use a site like the register who are the tech equivalent of the Indo..

John Doe1

In the mind of the OP:

"Hmm Steve Jobs is dead, i care for him not. I know i shall look up the internet for other people who have died cos im cold hearted. I better say this is not a steve jobs bashing thread to make it seem less cold hearted though."

ch750536

Sc@recrow wrote: »

lol..the register...enough said
should have know an android loving fanboy would use a site like the register who are the tech equivalent of the Indo..

'I hate it when somebody says bad about god so I'll just attack the poster and his sources as I'm too hurt to have a rational debate' :rolleyes:

Blazer

ch750536 wrote: »

'I hate it when somebody says bad about god so I'll just attack the poster and his sources as I'm too hurt to have a rational debate' :rolleyes:

nope..I couldn't care less but when someone posts something really idiotic then they deserve to be called out on it..your points were complete crap and I wouldn't even waste my time debating them..

ps..I'm both a iphone + xoom owner and soon to be a mobile 8 owner so no real allegiance..I just tell it as I see it...

ch750536

Sc@recrow wrote: »

nope..I couldn't care less but when someone posts something really idiotic then they deserve to be called out on it..your points were complete crap and I wouldn't even waste my time debating them..

ps..I'm both a iphone + xoom owner and soon to be a mobile 8 owner so no real allegiance..I just tell it as I see it...

'I hate it when somebody says bad about god so I'll just attack the poster and his sources as I'm too hurt to have a rational debate' :rolleyes:;)

MagicMarker

groovie wrote: »

Yesterday also deprived us of the guitar player Bert Jansch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOIt7fOgeFk

Here's Bert in action, and that is only one guitar that you are hearing.

Wow, that is terrible.

Scotty #

seamus wrote: »

While you can say that at the end of the day he was just a businessman, he had a knack for identifying what end-consumers wanted next and dragging them kicking & screaming into the market. All of things which made computers a device for use by normal people - fully assembled circuit boards, GUIs, the mouse, and so forth were primarily pioneered by Apple (or just Jobs). He didn't do it alone of course, he had smart people around him doing the actual work, but he was the lynchpin, he provided the vision that married all of these skills together and brought these innovations to the marketplace.

Would they have gotten to the public eventually? Yeah, probably. But perhaps not in the same way. The PC was the primary driver of the Internet. Without a way for your average Joe to operate a PC via GUI and mouse, they would remain the preserve of academics and technology gurus. The internet would be a tiny entity, just passing data back-and-forth between companies, not the mass-media ubiquitous entertainment machine that we now have.

Similarly, the iPhone was revolutionary. Touchscreens, web on your phone, music on your phone. Nothing new. But packaged in a way that encouraged you to use it. Without the iPhone making all of the other manufacturers sit up and think, "Oh ****", we'd still in 2011 be cooing over phones with clamshell designs, 4GB storage and rudimentary touch screens.

Similarly the iPad. Tablets were considered a pipe dream. Been there, done that, totally impractical. In two years, not only has the iPad created a market which never existed before, it's managed to create a huge market which never existed before, and left the others scrambling to catch up.

It'll still be another ten years before we know the full impact of the smartphones & tablet age on society.

In short, Jobs' vision has allowed Apple to be a company which consistently brings developments to the consumer market, well before anyone else does and in a way that's better than anyone else for a long time. This has had a profound effect on the consumer technology markets and in turn has caused a dramatic change in how society as a whole uses technology.

It would be fair to say that there is no-one in Western society, and few in other societies who have not been touched in some way by Steve Jobs' vision and business acumen. You don't have to save lives to change the world.

A person can hate Apple (Apple haters are just as irritating and childish as fanboys btw) and refuse to buy their products, but you own something which has in some way been significantly shaped by Jobs and Apple.

Complete nonsense tbh!

ch750536

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive

Jonathan "Jony" Ive, CBE (born February 1967) is an English designer and the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He is the leading designer and conceptual mind behind the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, G4 Cube, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Oh, Jobs didnt even hire him...

geetar

jobs was a genious no doubt, but apple's success was largely based on his incredible ability to make people jizz their pants over technology that already exists.

Iphone's have always been behind the latest technology, but its marketing and ease of use is second to none.

the latest craze for iphones will be flash, people will go tits over it, even though its been available for feckin ages.

R.I.P Jobs, great man and great talent.

as for the others OP, they are mildly interesting, but not even nearly as big as jobs.

tfitzgerald

biko wrote: »

You can change title by clicking edit and Advanced.
Anyhoo I changed it for you.

Thanks be to god you posted the above I spent 10 minutes looking for the typo and could not see any thought I was going crazy:)

Well more than normal

bnt

This week also saw the departure of quirky English composer David Bedford. Here's a piece of his from 1977 with guest guitarist Mike Oldfield:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqzIMv6XYCY

Another of his pieces from the same year, The Song of the White Horse, requires the choir to inhale helium before the final section, just so they can reach the notes on the score ... :pac:

paulosham

Charles Napier
Marv Tarplin

ch750536

geetar wrote: »

jobs was a genious no doubt, but apple's success was largely based on his incredible ability to make people jizz their pants over technology that already exists.

R.I.P Jobs, great man and great talent.

Completely agree, this was a talent he had, he also used that talent well.

orourkeda

Steve No-Jobs

grudgebringer

RachaelVO wrote: »

I just heard the Wham Bar is not more


Wham Bar, you were total sh1te, and are probably responsible for more tooth loss than a little, but dammit I loved ya.

RIP you nasty piece of sugar and sherbet!

A sad loss, god bless Wham Bars everywhere.

Loanshark Blues

ch750536 wrote: »

Na, for every success he had at least 10 failures.

Entrepreneurs are risk takers and need to be prepared to accept failure. Jobs was successful in spite of his failures. I'm sure Einstein had many failed experiments before he came up with the e=mc2 equation or theory of relativity, but people don't go around saying "oh yeah e=mc2 and all that but what about the time he singed his eyebrows with his bunsen burner".

Conor108

The Westboro baptist church weigh in on Steve Jobs

brummytom

groovie wrote: »

Yesterday also deprived us of the guitar player Bert Jansch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOIt7fOgeFk

Here's Bert in action, and that is only one guitar that you are hearing.

The one death that made me the most sad. RIP Bert Jansch.