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Thomas E. Kurtz has died

(computerhistory.org)
618 points 1986 | 1 comments | 14 Nov 24 22:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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andrewstuart2 ◴[15 Nov 24 19:04 UTC] No.42149828[source]▶
@dang, it would be really cool to see news.ycombinator.com/halloffame, or news.ycombinator.com/pioneers, or something like that as another item under news.ycombinator.com/lists for a list of these pioneers who get the black bar memorial. Learning more about the history of computers and the lesser-known pioneers who made it happen is always cool, though bittersweet when the black bar is up, of course.
replies(3): >>42150022 #>>42150032 #>>42153612 #
1. dredmorbius ◴[16 Nov 24 02:30 UTC] No.42153612[source]▶
"@dang" is a no-op: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36526450>

Email requests to mods at hn@ycombinator.com.

As HN generally standardises on "X has died" for obituaries, it's possible to search most obituary notices through Algolia. Collating by popularity / votes is a pretty good proxy for significance:

<https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...>

At this writing, Stephen Hawking, Bram Moolenaar, Keven Mitnick, Paul Allen, Queen Elizabeth II, Gordon Moore, John Conway, Dennis Ritchie, and Joe Armstrong are the top ten matches.

Note that this misses a few entries, e.g., Steve Jobs ("has passed away": <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3078128>) and Mike Magee ("Mike Mageek is dead": <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41285851>).

I'd emailed dang regarding the last, noting that not only does the entry not follow the HN "has died" convention, but it misspels (as an in-joke) Magee's name. Dang defended that as in the spirit of the site (and arguably Magee), but it does make searching for the obituary more challenging.

Also worth noting that Stephen Hawking's obit remains the top HN story of all time by votes, for going on eight years.