What is the Legacy of PF Member Jim Hardy?

[Greg Bernhardt]

It is with profound sadness that I must report that we've learned legendary PF brother @jim hardy passed away earlier this week. Jim was loved by countless members here and was an incredibly positive force for the community and all our outside readers. A genuine man, we always paid close attention to his posts as we knew they were full of Insight. Rest in Peace jim! You will always be remembered here as a legend. PF and our engineering forums will not be the same. His efforts here live on! Please feel free to give your thanks here and share a memory.

 

[PAllen]

OMG, I cannot process this, what a huge loss ...

 

[jedishrfu]

I’m at a loss for words. Every so often, our paths would cross in a common thread and I would defer to his experience and would ponder well his advice on whatever matter we were discussing.

Here’s one thread where Old Jim talked about his study of Latin and the debt he owed his Latin teacher Mrs Wright.

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...learning-other-languages.917855/#post-5787048
Veni, Vidi, Relinqui!

(A little Latin in honor of Old Jim.)

Take care Old Jim, we’ll miss your grace, experience and humor.

 

[dlgoff]

What a good friend Jim was. Here with his friend Harry restoring an old Goff family violin.

 

[OmCheeto]

Goodbye Jim.
It was a great privilege to have been in your presence.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

These flowers have been sent to his family in PF Community's name

 

[WWGD]

Wow, a blow for sure. Will miss his sunny disposition, good attitude and extensive engineering and otherwise knowledge he was always willing to impart, clearly and patiently. I and most surely all others here will miss you.

 

[atyy]

I'm sad to hear. Jim was great to have here. Deepest sympathies to his family.

 

[StevieTNZ]

I am deeply saddened to learn of Jim's death. He was a valuable and knowledgeable member who contributed greatly to the PF forum and family. I will miss seeing him sign off posts as 'old jim'.

 

[Drakkith]

A profound loss for PF. My sincerest condolences to Jim's family and friends.

 

[davenn]

ohh my gosh

Jim, you were a true gentleman, I and others learned so much from you and you will be truly missed here at PF.

To Jim's family and close friends, my deepest condolences through this double tough time as it was only a
short time ago Jim lost his wife.

Regards
Dave

 

[Evo]

His wife just passed away recently. I wonder if that contributed. So sad.

R.I.P. Jim.

 

[Averagesupernova]

PF certainly won't be the same without Jim. It will be hard to get used to his absence. I have never felt a significant loss for someone I had never met til now. RIP.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Cannot believe my eyes. I saw him replying a few days back, and today he is no longer amongst us? A very knowledgeable person, and helped us, the enthusiasts but beginners, patiently, taking time to answer all our queries. It's really sad that he passed away.

 

[Asymptotic]

Stunned, learning of Jim's passing. He never stopped learning, had the knack of explaining complexities simply, and balanced hands-on intuition with mathematical rigor.

My condolences to his family during this time darkened with loss, but be it tempered with the memory of a life well lived. He will be missed.

 

[artis]

I had an email exchange with Jim for some time, at first we talked physics then life, he even sent me a small brochure from his childhood hometown and said I need to visit. The last email never got an answer...
It's sad to hear.
If any relatives of Jim are reading this I want to express my deepest condolences.

 

[neilparker62]

Of the generation that took us - if not to the stars - at least to the moon. And photographed with incredible detail the ultra violet spectrum of the sun.

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1978A&A...70L..11A/L000011.000.html
Deepest condolences to family and friends.

 

[Tom.G]

The Wortham Funeral Home shows he died July 1, 2019, age 73. RIP Jim, you are missed.

https://www.worthamfuneralhome.com/obituaries/James-David-Hardy?obId=4517254#/obituaryInfo

 

[YoungPhysicist]

Goodbye, Jim. Rest In Peace.

 

[Borg]

I am at a loss for words. Jim, you were a true gentleman and will be greatly missed.

 

[nuuskur]

Condolences to friends and loved ones. Rest in peace, Jim.

 

[TeethWhitener]

I’m so sorry to hear this news. Rest In Peace, Jim.

 

[Andy Resnick]

My sincere condolences to those that knew Jim well. The flowers were a very thoughtful gesture and I'm sure they were appreciated by his family.

 

[Grinkle]

To anyone who was close to him and reads this - know that Jim was greatly respected and this community is lessened with his passing.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Unlike some of the other posters here, I did not know Jim that well, but on the occasions I have interacted with him, I always respected his considerate manner and his perspective. This is a loss, and I wanted to offer my condolences to his family and to all of his friends both here on PF and elsewhere.

 

[etudiant]

He was always a reliable guide on topic issues. His wisdom will be greatly missed.
My deepest condolences to his family.
Rest in peace, Jim.

 

[bhobba]

He will be greatly missed.

With Sadness
Bill

 

[anorlunda]

The last contact I had with Jim was just before July 1. He said that he was visiting with family.

Jim told his family that he experienced great joy helping people on PF. I think that is evident in the loving care and extensive research he put into many of his top posts. All the rest of us delighted in Jim's knowledge and generosity of spirit.

Here are a couple of pictures from 2017. Jim and his wife Fair Anne, met up with me and my wife Libby in Grand Forks, Kentucky to watch the eclipse. We all had a wonderful time, and our scientific minds were stimulated.

Posing before the event.

and with the welding mask off. Jim & Fair Anne sitting, Dick & Libby standing. If you look carefully at the shadows on Fair Anne's forehead, you can see the degree of partial eclipse at this moment about 20 minutes before totality.

We will miss them greatly.

 

[CalcNerd]

As others can attest, Jim was great at making the complex physics and engineering simple for not just the novice, but for the learned as well. That is a gift that even the best often lack.

He will be greatly missed.

My condolences to all of his friends and loved ones.

 

[Dr.D]

For several years, Jim put huge effort into caring for his wife, Fair Anne (the Lady in the Sun, as he called her) as she went through a long, slow decline with cancer. My wife and I visited Jim and Anne at Christmass time, 2017, and she was struggling then; she lasted until just a few weeks ago. Two daughters were with him at the time, and stayed a couple of weeks afterwards.

Since Ann's passing, Jim has been on a frantic round of traveling, first up to PA to visit family there, then down to Houston to a wind power conference. From Houston, he flew to CO to work with a friend on siting a wind power project in the mountains; this took about 2 weeks, as I recall. While there, he purchased a used Volvo to drive home as he had accumulated a lot of stuff at garage sales (tools, TV, computer gear, etc). He sent me a photo of himself with the rear of the car open showing all his acquisitions filling the rear of the car. On the round was the small backpack containing everything he had started with on his travels. I last heard from Jim about 10 days ago. He was near Tulsa, visiting his sister, and planned to start back to Hardy, Arkansas the next day.

His friendship and knowledge will be sorely missed. I suspect that life without Anne just was not worth living for Jim.

 

[Dr.D]

Here is that last e-mail from Jim, along with the photo.

I left Denver Monday, am at my sister's house in Tulsa. Plan to leave Saturday for home...
We watched "The Music Man", one of Anne and my favorite movies. I bought the DVD . It still brings me to tears , don't quite know why, probably something about the themes of redemption(Preston's character) and innocence(Shirley Jones's character) .
Or maybe just admiration for something so masterfullyl done - it is a most excellent production. Director got stellar performances out of everybody in the cast.
Sister thinks we long for the innocent times before internet cellphones 911 and today's general madness..
Anyhow it's set in Iowa as you know and i think you and Sue might enjoy it. Be sure to hook some good speakers to the TV for the soundtrack is excellent quality.

Guess I'm an incurable junker. I left with just one small overnight bag that fits underneath an airplane seat.
At Kent's house i realized i had no visible means of transport home
and Memphis airport is too far to ask somebody to come after me
so i went looking for a Denver jalopy to drive home.
Found a remarkably nice little Volvo station wagon
went garage sale-ing with Kent and Dianne(she's a voracious bargain hunter)
and filled up the little Volvo. 3 Klipsch speakers, 2 Craftsman routers, Yamaha receiver, LG giant screen TV, three toolboxes of assorted hand tools, Black&Decker workmate, saws, drills, a few books, two Carhart jackets and a lot of dress shirts.

oh well, a grandkid will want the little car...
guess that i am just a hopeless case...
Sister's yard in Owasso Oklahoma. A gorgeous neighborhood north of Tulsa. About 6 hours drive from Hardy Arkansas.

 

[hagopbul]

My condolences to the physics forums to his family and to his friends

 

[dextercioby]

Warmest condolences to the family from Romania, as well.

 

[kith]

I didn't interact with Jim but I had much respect for him and valued his activity here. Condolences to his family and to his friends.

 

[MalcolmB]

What a sad loss and at a relatively young age too. He will be deeply missed in the PF community.
My deepest condolences to his friends, family and anyone who interacted with him in this community and elsewhere.
RIP Old Jim.

 

[George Jones]

As someone whose deepest interests lie in the application of abstract mathematics to theoretical physics, it might seem that the set of events at which my Physics Forums worldline intersected Jim's PF worldline would be empty. This is certainly not the case,

Since early high school, I have had a hobbyists's interest in electricity and electronics. Jim combined a hobbyist's enthusiasm and interest with a professional's practical and theoretical knowledge in a way that few are able to do. With respect to Jim's posts, I played the role of PF lurker, i.e., I gained knowledge by reading the Tutor's posts.

RIP, Jim

 

[scottdave]

This is sad news. I always appreciated his insight and the care he showed when responding to a question. R.I.P. Jim

 

[hutchphd]

Jim Hardy's one page explanation of how the power grid works was the reason I joined this forum. It was as clear an exposition as could be imagined. I am saddened to lose that perfectly pitched voice, and such a kind and gentle human.

 

[Guineafowl]

I will remember many things about him:

1. “A question well stated is half answered”.
2. His efforts to explain difficult concepts simply, and his doodling with MS Paint on pictures.
3. Restoring old machines gives you things you can’t afford new, and honours the hard work of the builders.
4. A deep knowledge built on seeing electronics progress from tubes to solid state. It’s hard to teach that.
5. “Ah, good. Jim’s posted in that thread. I’m about to learn something new.”

I even asked him once when his electronics textbook will be published. He thanked me for the compliment, explaining, in his humble way, that his knowledge was not up to scratch.

Humility, knowledge, understanding, patience. RIP Old Jim.

 

[Guineafowl]

Jim Hardy's one page explanation of how the power grid works was the reason I joined this forum. It was as clear an exposition as could be imagined. I am saddened to lose that perfectly pitched voice, and such a kind and gentle human.

Do you have a link? I’d like to read that.

 

[hutchphd]

I tried to find it earlier but without success. As I recall it was contained in a response to someone trying to sync maybe windmills to the grid. I joined Nov 2017 so prior to and maybe just prior to that date. I will look again more carefully.

 

[fresh_42]

Maybe somewhere in here?
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/power-grid-generator-questions.952724/page-2#post-6037638or this one
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/power-grid-generator-questions.952724/page-2#post-6037529

 

[dlgoff]

His wife just passed away recently. I wonder if that contributed. So sad.

R.I.P. Jim.

My thought exactly. The last time he was visiting me, we talked about our "love of my life". It was Anne for him for sure.

 

[dlgoff]

Here are a couple of pictures from 2017. Jim and his wife Fair Anne, met up with me and my wife Libby in Grand Forks, Kentucky to watch the eclipse. We all had a wonderful time, and our scientific minds were stimulated.

Jim talked to me about meeting you there. He was thrilled, not only for seeing the eclipse, but mostly knowing, and I quote, "such a nice guy".

 

[Dr Transport]

Words cannot describe my sadness, he and I had many exchanges, all were positive. He was a true PF'er, always had a good thing to say and his loss cannot be replaced, I feel for his family, they were truly blessed and so were we.

 

[hutchphd]

Do you have a link? I’d like to read that.

There are so many good ones...searching was great...it might have been https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/3815542/

 

[SammyS]

Rest in Peace, Jim !

 

[DennisN]

I am very sad to hear @jim hardy has passed away.
I crossed paths with him many times in several places on the forum.
For instance, I enjoyed his posts in the "Favorite songs" thread and the "Beauty of old electrical and measuring things" thread, and I enjoyed his photos of various technology in PF photo contest threads, for instance this one.
My condolences to all of his near ones.

 

[dlgoff]

You can tell Jim was brilliant from this picture of his office when he worked at a nuclear power plant.

 

[mesa]

Oh my gosh, he will certainly be missed.