Ed Nather
R. Edward Nather (1926 – 2014) was the Rex G. Baker Jr. and McDonald Observatory Centennial Research Professor Emeritus in Astronomy at UT Austin. He pioneered the fields of asteroseismology of white dwarfs, and observational studies of interacting binary collapsed stars. He served as the director of the Whole Earth Telescope for the first decade of its existence, and achieved internet fame by posting the Story of Mel, a Real Programmer, on Usenet. Nather died on August 13, 2014 in Austin, Texas.