Raymond George Vickson Sept 19 1942- May 13 2019

[Ray Vickson]

I am sorry to report the death of Ray Vickson who was a member of this forum. He enjoyed assisting members with their problems during his retirement.
Lynne Vickson

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Lynne, please accept my/our deepest condolences. This is very sad news. Ray was an outstanding member and person here at Physics Forums. His efforts mentoring students for over 8 years has no doubt lifted their lives and furthered their progress in physics. What a man! He will be missed. Thank you so much for your strength in giving us this difficult news. Peace be with you and your family.

 

[WWGD]

My condolences. I remember Ray being patient and very knowledgeable. I learned plenty from him.
Sorry to hear it.

 

[davenn]

Lynne, my condolences to you and your family

 

[Astronuc]

Lynne, please accept my/our deepest condolences, and please extend our condolences to the rest of the family. Ray will be missed at PF.

 

[member 428835]

Such a smart scientist. He will be missed!

 

[Chestermiller]

What terrible news. He was such a great asset to Physics Forums. We will deeply miss him. Condolences on your loss.

 

[fresh_42]

Lynne, please accept my/our deepest condolences, and please extend our condolences to the rest of the family. Ray will be missed at PF.

Our condolences is correct. We will definitely miss him. This is one of those messages you find hard to believe.

 

[Drakkith]

I'm so sorry. My sincerest condolences to you and your family.

 

[dlgoff]

My condolences to you and your family also.

 

[LCKurtz]

Let me add my condolences Lynne. I had already missed seeing his posts but wasn't expecting that kind of news. He was a regular and seemed to know more than everything. I am truly sorry for your loss.
--Lynn Kurtz (ASU-retired)

 

[TeethWhitener]

I’m so sorry for your loss.

 

[jedishrfu]

Through the mists of time we walk,
Meeting new friends with whom we talk,
Until silently they vanish from our view
while we walk on and vanish too.

My condolences Lynne, we will miss viewing his posts and the cute little dog photo. Please know that we all enjoyed our discussions with him while at PF. Please take care and come back anytime if you need advice or help.

Jedi

 

[vela]

I am sorry for your loss, Lynne. Ray was so knowledgeable and helpful. We will miss him dearly.

 

[chwala]

I am sorry to report the death of Ray Vickson who was a member of this forum. He enjoyed assisting members with their problems during his retirement.
Lynne Vickson

What??i am in shock, i briefly interacted with him on the math homework help...this is a sad day.

 

[chwala]

The bad thing about death is that your knowledge and insight isn't transferable... you cannot transfer your knowledge to a heir as inheritance. It goes with you.

 

[mfb]

The bad thing about death is that your knowledge and insight isn't transferable... you cannot transfer your knowledge to a heir as inheritance. It goes with you.

You can transfer knowledge in your lifetime. And he did! He helped others gaining knowledge and insight over years and with thousands of posts.

 

[scottdave]

I am sad to hear this. I enjoyed reading his thoughtful guidance.

 

[chwala]

You can transfer knowledge in your lifetime. And he did! He helped others gaining knowledge and insight over years and with thousands of posts.

What you are saying is absolutely true, my reference is death and life...when you die unlike material wealth you cannot say give your brain and way of thinking to your son for example...you die with it...yes when alive one can share knowledge, no dispute about that. May he rest in peace, we shall surely miss Ray Vickson.

 

[ehild]

My condolences... We will miss Ray very much.

 

[opus]

Terrible news. Ray was extremely patient and kind and he helped me many times here. He will be missed.

 

[Krushnaraj Pandya]

I planned to surprise him and the other mentors who've helped me with something nice when I become a successful physicist or engineer...I suppose I won't get the chance

If there is a heaven, no one deserves it more.

 

[romsofia]

I can only hope that one day I can guide as many people to knowledge as Ray did. He truly impacted the lives of many students around the world in a positive way. Thanks to the internet, his insights on tricky problems will help students for years to come as well!

Rest in peace Mr.Vickson.

 

[Orodruin]

I am very sad to hear this and my most sincere condolences go out to Lynne and all of Ray’s family and friends. As evidenced already by the posts in this thread, he had certainly found a place here where his knowledge and insights were highly appreciated.

 

[SammyS]

Lynne,
Thanks for informing us of Ray's death. Many of us share RGV's enjoyment of "assisting members with their problems" during and prior to our retirement. It has been a pleasure being a colleague of Ray's here on Physics Forums.
My condolences to you, and Ray's family and friends.

 

[sysprog]

That person cheerfully helped people right up until his last days. What a great and admirable way that was for him to spend some of his final hours. For my own tiny part, I offer my small thoughts and prayers, commending him highly to whatever or whomever may be the highest being I can imagine or experience.

 

[Doc Al]

My deepest condolences. Ray was an amazing asset to PF and will be missed.

 

[Terrell]

my condolences

 

[Haorong Wu]

Sorry to hear the bad news. My condolences to you and your family.

 

[YoungPhysicist]

I’ll add my condolence too. This is unbelievable news.

Though I’m not particularly familiar with him, every time he helped me with my problems, he always have very useful insights which helped me a lot. I am so sorry to hear that. I hope that I can gain, and pass on my knowledge to the next generation just like he did. R.I.P.

 

[neilparker62]

Every sincere scientist - past and present - contributes in their own way towards the building of "scientific reefs" if I may draw that comparison to the incredible diversity of life and function we see in coral reefs. RIP Ray and deepest condolences to family and friends.

 

[Periwinkle]

Horace, Ode I.11​

​

Tu ne quaesieris - scire nefas! - quem mihi, quem tibi​

finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios​

temptaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati,​

seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,​

quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare​

Tyrrheneum. Sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi​

spem longam reseces; dum loquimur, fugerit invida​

aetas: Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.​

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't ask - it is forbidden to know! - what kind of me, what kind of you​

end the gods give, Leuconoe, Babylonian fortune-tellers​

don't try. It would be better if you got anything, bear,​

will you have more winter, or will Jupiter give you the last one,​

which now the rocks of the Tyrrhenian Sea are unyielding and​

breach. Make your mind, filter the wine, short the time and​

abroad hopes cut back; as long as we talk, run away from our envy​

years: Take gain of this instant than the less believable tomorrow.​

 

[QuantumQuest]

My deep condolences. He was a great member of PF, very very knowledgeable, has helped a whole lot of people here and I, personally, have learned a lot and gain insights into various problems. Rest In Peace Ray.

 

[Dr Transport]

I am deeply sorry for your loss...

 

[PainterGuy]

I'm really sorry to hear this! My condolences to you and your family.

 

[mesa]

You husband was a great man who helped many go from student to working professional, he will be missed Lynne.

 

[chwala]

Physicsforums made me share a life with Ray, though separated by distance and different cultural background, i was able to interact with Ray in one language called 'Maths' it brought us together despite the fact that i come from one of the farthest distance on our planet and that's Africa.

 

[Mark44]

I am sorry to report the death of Ray Vickson who was a member of this forum. He enjoyed assisting members with their problems during his retirement.
Lynne Vickson

Lynne, I'm very sorry to hear of Ray's passing. I've been in contact many times here at Physics Forums over the past ten years or so, due to our mutual interest in helping students with mathematics problems. Ray provided high quality help to many students here at this site. He will be missed.

 

[fresh_42]

Physicsforums made me share a life with Ray, though separated by distance and different cultural background

In fact, this is what I always find most appealing here: the opportunity to talk with people around the globe in basically the same language of math, regardless the continent, culture or time zone. To me this represents a kind of hope for humanity. Ray was such an anchor of hope. And that is why I won't forget him.

 

[DrClaude]

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist/obituary.aspx?n=raymond-g-vickson&pid=192906218Edit: same obituary, put the quality of the picture is better
http://vancouversunandprovince.remembering.ca/obituary/raymond-vickson-1942-2019-1074675224

 

[jedishrfu]

Thanks for posting @DrClaude, I searched too a few days ago but apparently it was too soon.

Ray had quite a life, I wonder what his theoretical physics specialty was?

 

[DrClaude]

I wonder what his theoretical physics specialty was?

His Ph.D. thesis at MIT was titled A generalized interference model. It led to the following publication:
R. G. Vickson, Generalized Interference Model, Phys. Rev. 188, 2154 (1969)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.188.2154

A crossing-symmetric Regge-pole model of the generalized interference type is discussed. The model consists of a sum of infinitely many Regge poles in each channel, corresponding to a leading Regge trajectory and its parallel daughters. All the usual requirements are satisfied by the Regge residues, and nonlinear trajections can be introduced without difficulty. At the expense of a loss of physical interpretation, the double-counting problem can be eliminated by identifying the Schmid loops with the direct-channel resonances.

The textbook mentioned in the obituary appears to be
W.T. Ziemba and R.G. Vickson, Stochastic Optimization Models in Finance, Academic Press (1975)
https://doi.org/10.1142/6101
https://www.elsevier.com/books/stochastic-optimization-models-in-finance/ziemba/978-0-12-780850-5
Later on, he seems to have concentrated on operational research. His most cited publications are:
A Survey of the Maximum Principles for Optimal Control Problems with State Constraints
Two Single Machine Sequencing Problems Involving Controllable Job Processing Times
Choosing the Job Sequence and Processing Times to Minimize Total Processing Plus Flow Cost on a Single Machine
Periodic Review Production Models With Variable Yield And Uncertain Demand
Routing Container Ships Using Lagrangean Relaxation and Decomposition

 

[Evo]

I missed this and am so saddened by the news. Lynne, I am so sorry for your loss. He will be missed here.

 

[epsilonita]

I am sorry to report the death of Ray Vickson who was a member of this forum. He enjoyed assisting members with their problems during his retirement.
Lynne Vickson

Heartfelt condolences. :(

 

[preet_jay]

I send you my condolences Lynne. I hope Ray is watching over us all and smiling at our progress. Rest In Peace Ray.

 

[DryRun]

I've been a struggling student for a long time and i remember Ray as a pillar of the help section. He undoubtedly gave his best and mentored a lot of students and changed their lives for the better. My most sincere condolences to you and your family, Lynne. Ray was a great man and an inspiring mentor. I hope to follow in his steps one day.