Many of you know of Ron Bracewell, the Australian Radio Astronomer. I have just learned of his passing at age 86; details can be read at http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-bracewell-082207.html. Ron's profession credentials at Stanford are summarized on his personal web page at http://www-star.stanford.edu/people/bracewell.html

I met Ron as a young radio astronomer in the early 1960's, shortly after he came to the US. He taught me about the beauty of the Fourier Transform, and I have been forever in his debt since that first encounter.Many of you have heard me refer to his McGraw-Hill textbook, "The Fourier Transform and its Applications" (ISBN-13:978-0070070158, see this entry on Amazon.com)as THE bible to be learned and revered by anyone thinking about topics like antenna arrays, image processing, holography, XRAY & MRI tomography, and ... that share the Fourier Transform as their foundation.

Ron also was active in philosophical discussions about SETI (see, for example http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/BracewellR.html); be sure to read his 1975 book The Galactic Club.

Rest well, Ron. Your genius profoundly affected many lives!

Tom Clark