Anja and the stars

Last week Randy Pausch has passed away.

Pausch was an American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a best-selling author who achieved worldwide fame for his “The Last Lecture” speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon. He delivered his “Last Lecture,” titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical “final talk,” i.e., “what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?” Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, “Make me earn it,” some in the audience shouted back, “You did!” During the lecture, Pausch was upbeat and humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage.
In August 2006, Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment that included Whipple procedure surgery and experimental chemotherapy; however, in August 2007 he was told the cancer had metastasized to his liver and spleen, which meant it was terminal. On July 24, on behalf of Pausch, a friend anonymously posted a message on Pausch’s webpage stating that a biopsy had indicated that the cancer had progressed further than what was expected from recent PET scans and that Pausch had “taken a step down” and was “much sicker than he had been.” The friend also stated that Pausch was “now enrolled” in a hospice program designed to provide palliative care to those at the end of life. On July 25, Diane Sawyer announced on “Good Morning America” that Pausch had died earlier that morning. Pausch died at his home in Chesapeake, Virginia surrounded by his wife Jai and their three children: Dylan, 6, Logan, 4, and Chloe, 2.

Here you can watch Pausch’s “last lecture” again.

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