I just heard the news that R Scott Hawley, meiosis enthusiast and founding Dean of the Grad School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, passed away today. Such a loss for the science and education community. I will miss our zooms and his deep, deep wisdom - ThreadSky

mads100tist.bsky.social • 28 days ago

I just heard the news that R Scott Hawley, meiosis enthusiast and founding Dean of the Grad School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, passed away today. Such a loss for the science and education community. I will miss our zooms and his deep, deep wisdom

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vectorgen.bsky.social•28 days ago

I knew him when I was a grad student at Davis. Terribe news :(

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Yeah, he was a good egg

spo11rulz.bsky.social•27 days ago

Two Scott stories that stick in my head, both from talks at Meiosis Gordon conferences. 1) After mentioning something about Gregor Mendel's son, a pause, then "Mendel was a great geneticist but terrible monk"

spo11rulz.bsky.social•27 days ago

2) At the start of an absolutely fabulous talk about three new RING genes his group had discovered and named Narya, Vilya, and Vanya after the three Elven rings in LOTR, Scott showed the inscription from the One Ring and described it as being in Elvish. After the talk, I raised my hand...

spo11rulz.bsky.social•27 days ago

"I have a comment and a question. The comment is just to clarify: of course, as everyone knows, that inscription is not in Elvish, it's the Black Speech of Mordor." Scott never forgave me.

mads100tist.bsky.social•27 days ago

ahahahhahahahah

triggerloop.bsky.social•27 days ago

haha amazing

triggerloop.bsky.social•27 days ago

"While written in the Tengwar of Feanor, actually it......"

triggerloop.bsky.social•27 days ago

Waiting for @spo11rulz.bsky.social to bust me on diacritics

scicreative.bsky.social•27 days ago

RIP 💔🖤

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

I will also share my favorite Scott anecdote, because it speaks of the kind of person he was: circa 2015 I was a young grad student and Scott was still the Dean. Picture Day was coming -the entire Institute takes a picture together; around 400 people +

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Now, this was not my first Picture Day, so I knew the deal and I had a surprise in storage. The day came and I showed up dressed up as Waldo +

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

They take the picture, and I go on about my day. Until I get called to Scott's office +

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Now, you have to know that this wasn't my first time being called to Scott's office (and it wasn't gonna be the last one. By far). So I show up, and I see him -this very tall, very bulky human- sitting on his chair +

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

And the first thing he says to me is, in *the softest voice a human can use*: "What the fuck is wrong with you, Joaquín" +

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

I mumbled a "well, you know-", and before I could finish he said: "I've always wanted somebody to do that. Thank you" +

aineurolab.bsky.social•28 days ago

Nice anecdote….wait why were you called in his office at all the other times?

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Well, let's say I had opinions about a lot of things and I used to send a lot of emails to a lot of people, including the back then CEO of the place

aineurolab.bsky.social•28 days ago

My interactions with Scott were more fleeting. As one of the first Stowers postdocs, before the grad school, we would exchange pleasantries on Friday science clubs, seminars, or events. Knowledgeable and kind man. I was never was called to his office; clearly I missed out!

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Scott used to share very cool genetic facts with everyone. I remember that time he told me the origin of the word "epistasis" (phenotype of one gene masked by another) in genetics is due to the fine, opaque layer that forms over urine left in a container and doesn't let you see what's below

aineurolab.bsky.social•28 days ago

Now I know what the “p” in epistasis means…thanks, I guess🤔

sillysciencelady.bsky.social•28 days ago

That's an awesome story, sounds just like him

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Did you know he used to do stand up comedy back in California?

sillysciencelady.bsky.social•28 days ago

No way!! He never mentioned it!

mads100tist.bsky.social•28 days ago

Well, now you know why he was so good at public speaking and cracking jokes

sdissel.bsky.social•28 days ago

Very sad news indeed

millerlab.bsky.social•27 days ago

RIP 💔

mdgarfinkel.bsky.social•28 days ago

I've known him through the Fly Community for decades. This is a great loss. My condolences to his family, his friends, his colleagues & his students.

I grieve with thee.

srferrar.bsky.social•28 days ago

So sorry to hear this, and thank you for sharing the news.

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