Announcement RIP Vanadium 50

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have some solemn news to report. Many in the community had been wondering where the prolific @Vanadium 50 has been. V50 hasn't posted a message in nearly a year. After months of questioning, the mentor group dug in and did some investigation and we're confident V50 passed away early this year.

Few members need reminding what kind of force @Vanadium 50 was for the community and physics. A mentor for 5+ years and an annual award winner seemingly every other year. He has a top 10 post count and top 5 reaction score. @Vanadium 50 always brought a very rare physics authority into discussions. When he spoke, people listened.

We're going to miss you @Vanadium 50. Thanks for so many years of memories, teachings and musing. You made a difference.

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[sbrothy]

Oh my. That explains a lot. I thought I was getting off too easy recently. I'm gonna miss his sarcastic whippings!

RIP.

 

[pinball1970]

That is very sad. He was smart as hell and funny with it. I was on the end of his caustic wit a few times, as I am sure many posters were.
Farewell and godspeed sir, you will be missed.

 

[difalcojr]

@Vanadium 50 was one member I noticed missing when I read the current threads recently, after some time away. He was brilliant, I thought, good insights, and very funny too. I remember agreeing with him in one post somewhere when he lobbied for best comic of the year. Here's a couple of his puns from a Tom Swift post in the Science Fiction forum:

I dropped my toothpaste, said Tom, crestfallen.

and, after @jtbell mentioned that Tom Swift possibly was the great grandfather of Taylor Swift, he added this.

"Let's go camping!" said Tom, intently.

 

[sbrothy]

Warning: pretty heavy stuff.

In light of this, I was reflecting on my own mortality. I started collecting accounts and passwords to pass on to my little sister in case something would happen to me, so my surviving relatives can "turn off" as much of my internet presence as possible after my departure.

Searching for a particularly caustically witty (wink @pinball1970 ) remark among the posts listed by @Greg Bernhardt (mostly for my own "amusement" and nostalgia), I couldn't help seeing the incredibly "cute" "Dearly Missed" trophy!

Hadn't noticed one of those before. Nice detail! Is this a new thing or long standing tradition on the site?

EDIT: and as an afterthought this might be a winner:

Post in thread 'When did you first feel like a grown up'

Feb 29, 2016

Dad, when I grow up I want to be a physicist.
Son, you know you can't have it both ways.

• Vanadium 50

• 

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Hadn't noticed one of those before. Nice detail! Is this a new thing or long standing tradition on the site?

PF is 25 years old, so we have several in that group. I'm afraid that is a small percentage of those we actually lost and will never know.

 

[DaveC426913]

He will be missed.

 

[dextercioby]

His brilliant mix of sarcasm and wittiness with a brush of arrogance will be dearly missed.

 

[morrobay]

Any information on the circumstances? Age, health issues, cause ? Quite surprising because he seemed very energetic and up front. And of course sad and unexpected.

 

[dextercioby]

Any information on the circumstances? Age, health issues, cause ? Quite surprising because he seemed very energetic and up front. And of course sad and unexpected.

Since there's no official confirmation, I'd say let's leave that page unturned, regardless how much we as human beings are entitled to being curious just about anything.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Any information on the circumstances? Age, health issues, cause ? Quite surprising because he seemed very energetic and up front. And of course sad and unexpected.

I'm afraid we can't give many details hedging on privacy defaults and uncertainty what he would want. He had made it known around the forums that he was dealing with some health concerns the previous summer.

 

[berkeman]

Age, health issues, cause ?

Any information we have about those is protected by PF's privacy policy. We would need to get the family's permission to discuss any of that, and there is nothing useful to be gained by that. I hope you understand.

 

[gmax137]

I missed him as soon as he stopped posting. RIP

 

[PhDeezNutz]

I’m gonna be honest I was a little bit scared of him so I never ended up being lashed by him. But Rest in Peace!!

My favorite post by him (in a now closed thread) was in regards to Sabine Hossenfelder is

Post in thread '"The 7 Strangest Coincidences in the Laws of Nature" (S. Hossenfelder)'
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...of-nature-s-hossenfelder.1062281/post-7089108

What did it for me was her insistence that people who disagree with her are dishonest and/or secretly agree with her. The fact that her business model is to take money from crackpots to tell them that the establishment is being mean to them is secondary.

Further, while she is the first to crow about being a theoretical physicist, her publication record is...um...less strong than many others. She would (and has) argued that this is proof that the community is interested in the wrong things. I would say that is not the only possibility. [\Quote]

The landscape of PF will certainly be different without him. I will probably spend a night reading through his most famous threads.

Edit: I do remember him saying he solved every problem in Halliday and Resnick

 

[Borek]

I was on the end of his caustic wit a few times, as I am sure many posters were.

Yep. At the same time it was always a learning experience (especially for someone - like me - coming from a science that allows/needs much more handwaving than allowed in physics).

 

[difalcojr]

From a nutty OP in an SF thread: Choosing a Session: A Physicist from the Future Drinks Rum During Q&A
A, B, C were lecture hours to attend: A=1 hour into the bottle, B=2 hours in, and C=bottoms up. Post #2 was

Is this a story premise? If so, what is the point of us selecting A, B or C? Or is unrelated to SF?

I objected to the creation of this section, afraid it would become a magnet and/or dustbin for substandard threads. Please tell me that's not what this is.

My response, off-track, supported the forum, but didn't answer his question.

That's all well and good, but it doesn't answer the question, and that will probably limit the number of useful answers you get: Is this a story premise? If so, what is the point of us selecting A, B or C?

He also made another pun later in a post there.

 

[Charles Link]

He was one of the smarter ones on here. We will miss him.

 

[sbrothy]

Watch out for @fresh_42, I know his sarcasm is at least on par with our dear departed friend, he might just [EDIT: and that would] be biDing his time...

 

[sbrothy]

I’m gonna be honest I was a little bit scared of him so I never ended up being lashed by him. But Rest in Peace!!

My favorite post by him (in a now closed thread) was in regards to Sabine Hossenfelder is

Post in thread '"The 7 Strangest Coincidences in the Laws of Nature" (S. Hossenfelder)'
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...of-nature-s-hossenfelder.1062281/post-7089108

Yeah, he wasn't exactly a fan of her, and pretty upfront about it. For whatever reason. Could hardly have been personal, but what do I know?

 

[Choppy]

So sad to hear this.
I'm glad the mentors were able to share this much. Often with online communities, people will fade away. You never really know if they just lost interest or what.

V50 offered lots of great advice over the years, even when it came in forms that people weren't likely to want to hear.

 

[fluidistic]

Ouch... This news hurts very badly.
I remember I had opened a thread just to "interview" him, as he was one of the few mods that were not interviewed. But he said he had no time to answer to questions (as far as I remember), but he did mention how he forced himself to become an expert in many different fields.
He was clearly, no doubt, very special and gifted. I will miss him terribly I believe, maybe all my life... He was an example of a polymath, erudite.
I feel sorry for you Vanadium, I wish I could have helped you in any way...

Edit: Here's the original thread I had opened to question him: https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...ymath-in-physics-and-computer-science.998992/.

I am still in shock about his passing.

 

[pinball1970]

came in forms that people weren't likely to want to hear

I would have liked him as a lecturer, I was smart at school or so I thought. He would have told me what expectations I should have in real world.

I looked back on a few interactions with him over the years and man he was brutal.
The lord of the rings thread I am still sore about!

There is a kittens thread and @fresh_42 may have posted something and I responded.
I got an alert on pf that V50 had replied and I thought, "oh lord, he's found me again and destroyed my argument."
What he posted was just typical, sardonic, off the cuff stuff, that made me laugh so hard and still does.

Are you sure he's gone? I know there were issues with Fermi. Some regulars like Vanhees, Atty, omega and others break then come back. "We are confident" is not "we know for certain."

 

[Borg]

Very sorry to hear about his passing. His posts were definitely awesome with his breadth of knowledge and sense of wit. We all need people like Vanadium in our lives to keep us pointed in the right direction. He will be missed greatly.

 

[sbrothy]

I would have liked him as a lecturer, I was smart at school or so I thought. He would have told me what expectations I should have in real world.

I looked back on a few interactions with him over the years and man he was brutal.
The lord of the rings thread I am still sore about!

Aa you said he was brutal, but in his own laconic “succinct is verbose for terse” way. I feel like I’ve been on the receiving end of more than one virtual slide-rule spanking, but always with a point and always with a desire to better myself afterwards. (Then again it could have been @berkeman or another moderator reigning me in.)

There is a kittens thread and @fresh_42 may have posted something and I responded.
I got an alert on pf that V50 had replied and I thought, "oh lord, he's found me again and destroyed my argument."
What he posted was just typical, sardonic, off the cuff stuff, that made me laugh so hard and still does.

Are you sure he's gone? I know there were issues with Fermi. Some regulars like Vanhees, Atty, omega and others break then come back. "We are confident" is not "we know for certain."

Yeah, sometimes you almost didn’t even dare look at the answer! Mentioning ghosts is downright childish, but you know where I’m going with this:

Back to to do my homework before asking silly questions!

 

[mad mathematician]

My sincere condolences, we had some fierce posts in beyond SM of particles. Though I can't tell if he posted when I started back in 2002.

 

[morrobay]

Ouch... This news hurts very badly.
I remember I had opened a thread just to "interview" him, as he was one of the few mods that were not interviewed. But he said he had no time to answer to questions (as far as I remember), but he did mention how he forced himself to become an expert in many different fields.
He was clearly, no doubt, very special and gifted. I will miss him terribly I believe, maybe all my life... He was an example of a polymath, erudite.
I feel sorry for you Vanadium, I wish I could have helped you in any way...

Edit: Here's the original thread I had opened to question him: https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...ymath-in-physics-and-computer-science.998992/.

I am still in shock about his passing.

Well that interview that did not happen is unfortunate since I / we would like to know more about him and the mentor bios are very informative. Would it be appropriate for administration/mentors to supply some additional information? Schools, location ... I gather he was a former navy officer, I would assume engineering/nuclear.

 

[neilparker62]

Most of his posts were on topics way beyond my 'ken' but I will remember him as a very clued up 'no nonsense' physicist. Here's a very characteristic post from him - note the reaction from the OP:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/best-rocket-stopping-method.1066619/post-7129301

 

[fresh_42]

Would it be appropriate for administration/mentors to supply some additional information? Schools, location ... I gather he was a former navy officer, I would assume engineering/nuclear.

No.

If users decide to post under nicknames rather than their true names, morrobay, then we have to respect that.