Carl Woese in Schenectady: The forgotten years

Many of the authors of these short pieces (who were invited to contribute by Robin Gutell) have already written or spoken about Carl Woese since he died at the end of December 2012. My own thoughts were published in PNAS on February 26, 2013. Still saddened by Carl’s death, I re-read what I wrote at that moment. The article was OK, although it was not strong enough for what Carl taught us: he deserved better. I’d like us to admire what Carl did over 50 years (which is a given), and to admire even more the way he did it. While Carl’s accomplishments were huge, his intense dedication to the ideas that consumed him was even more impressive.