A Tribute to Jim Gray: Sometimes Nice Guys Do Finish First

After reading this:

"While working at I.B.M.’s Thomas J. Watson Jr. Research Laboratory in New York, Mr. Gray asked his boss if he could relocate to an I.B.M. laboratory in San Jose. When he was told that he couldn’t, he said, “All right, then, I quit.”

He then got in his Volkswagen, drove across the country and was rehired by an I.B.M. laboratory in California."

I'm very sorry to have never met Jim Gray. He sounds like an amazing individual.

I was lucky enough to hear him speak at the University of Waterloo, before I knew who he was. He broke down the long term trends for hardware and their implications for databases, and demoed his virtual telescope project. Afterwards I just remember thinking "wow that guy had amazing perspective". Only later did I realize I had witnessed a legend!

The impact that Jim Gray had on computer science is huge. I would highly suggest reading the wired article on the extensive search that followed his disappearance. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-08/ff_jimgra...