R.I.P. Randy Pausch
I’m attempting to put myself in a bottle that will one day wash up on the beach for my children.”
That’s how Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Randy Pausch described the now-famous “Last Lecture” he delivered at the university in the fall of 2007 — when he already knew that he had only months left to live. In that legacy, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” his children (Dylan, Logan, and Chloe) will have something to cherish that few others ever will — or could — imagine. What Pausch couldn’t know at the time was that his lecture would also become a priceless legacy to millions of others around the world.
Pausch was a notable figure even before his lecture went viral on YouTube. He was one of the youngest individuals to earn tenure in his field. A widely respected teacher of video-game and virtual-reality technology, he led the development of Cargnegie Mellon’s “Alice,” a revolutionary, freely downloadable 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create animations for telling stories, playing interactive games, or making videos to share on the web. He was a key member of the university’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute and co-founded its Entertainment Technology Center, a master’s degree program that trains artists, actors, engineers, and computer scientists on collaboration.
“The Last Lecture” (Hyperion, April 2008) also became an international bestselling book that has been translated into 30 languages.
In tribute to the remarkable life Pausch lived, the Wall Street Journal’s Brightcove.com channel offers several videos about the professor. (Yes, Brightcove’s streaming-video commercials before every video are annoying. But they’re short, and I suspect that the pragmatic professor would say, “Get over it. They’re worth watching.”) CMU has posted a detailed memorial page.
Among the many pithy comments that Pausch’s lecture has made famous, one of my favorites is, “Brick walls are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams.” He also said that “if you lead your life the right way, the Karma will take care of itself. Your dreams will come to you.” In his concluding remarks, he stated that his lecture was not really about how to achieve your dreams, but how to live your life.
Pausch, 47, died at his home in Chesapeake, Virginia early on the morning of Friday, July 25, leaving his wife, Jai, and their three children. Donations can be made to Carnegie Mellon’s Randy Pausch Memorial Fund.