CESE

CESE extends our sincere condolences to Dr. Timothy Moy's family, and to his many colleagues and friends. Prof. Moy, who was an associate professor of History at the University of New Mexico, drowned on July 22nd while assisting his son in the waters off Kailua, in Hawaii. In addition to his many duties at UNM, Tim was a longtime member of CESE (the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education), and served as president of CESE from 2001-2002. He was an articulate explainer of history and scientific thought, a strong promoter of increasing appreciation of science, and a passionate advocate of the importance of scientific integrity. He will be missed very much.

-Dave Thomas

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Professor Timothy Moy

I first met Tim in 1996. I had just finished a presentation to the New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (NMLESC) on the problems with the proposed NM science education state standards. The State Board had been heavily influenced by a young-earth creationist, who had excised every mention of evolution, the age of the earth, and cosmology. Several of us in NM were organizing a group to try and change the science standards back to what the writing committee had produced, which followed the National Science Standards quite closely. Some legislators told me privately that they supported our proposal, but didn’t think they could change the standards.

Tim Moy was standing in the back of the room. He came up to me and asked how he could help our cause. For the next decade, Tim worked very hard with us to finally return the NM science standards to the point that they received an A from the Fordham Foundation as well as Education Week’s Quality Counts reports.

Tim was a past president of the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education. I recently saw him at a dinner meeting, where he made an outstanding presentation on the history of science. In fact, I e-mailed him only a few days ago to discuss a recent paper on Lord Kelvin’s calculation of the age of the earth and two of his erroneous assumptions (not just leaving out radioactivity; see recent issue of American Scientist).

Tim was one of those rare people who knew when to think, when to work with others, and when to act. He was very knowledgeable, well informed, socially aware, highly intelligent, hard working, and extremely articulate with scientists, historians, politicians, in fact, almost everyone. Although he worked well with the NM activists, his current research would (I hope will) provide important insights into the motivations of advocates on both sides of the creation/science issue.

It is nearly impossible to digest the sudden loss of someone you’ve known for so long, admire greatly, and consider a very good friend. And when that person is as wise, kind, thoughtful, considerate, and a credit to the best of the human species, the loss is almost too great to bear.

- Dr Marshall Berman

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I considered Tim a friend. When I think back to the times that I ate dinner with him I remember why I liked him. In the course of an hour, the conversation could go from Galileo to how fast some little car could make it through an intersection from a dead stop to alternate energy to the useless stuff we had downloaded using bit torrent clients. Tim would be interested, knowledgeable, engaged throughout the entire course of the conversation. There is no doubt that Tim was a very intelligent and thoughtful person who was also fun to be around. What really made him special though was his desire to use his attributes to make the world a better place. This can be seen in his efforts to improve science education and his willingness to help his students. I was so shocked at how sudden and unexpected his passing was that I did not believe what I was reading when I first received the news. I knew that there was some mistake. When it finally sunk in that it was real, I was deeply saddened. I will miss Tim.

-Jesse Johnson

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I was very, very sorry to hear this news. I knew Tim from CESE and NM's Instructional Materials Commission, and I thought very highly of him.

For someone so young, he had amazing insight into the nature of things that everyone else missed. I recall one of his talks where he said probability and statistics should be taught ahead of calculus. Thinking about what I did most of my working career, identifying bacteria the old fashion tube method, I would have been much better served if this had been true.

On one occasion when he was scheduled to speak at a NM Academy of Science banquet, Dave and Pam Thomas and I were "guarding" the museum door entrance, since they didn't have any security personnel present that evening. When Tim arrived, he said he was the "after dinner entertainment."

During that talk, he spoke about Einstein. One comment he made was that the image of a scientist in the media, had been forever altered because of Einstein's celebrity status -- the wild hair and funky clothes were what everyone from then on expected a scientist to look like. (Recall the scientist characters in the films Day the Earth Stood Still and Back to the Future.) Had I been a student when Tim was teaching, I would have minored in him. I had often told my kids to be sure and take one of his classes when they get to the UNM, didn't matter what it was. And I had always wanted to audit his history of science classes. I also hoped he would someday write a history of science textbook.

I am so sorry this is not to be.

-- Marilyn Savitt-Kring

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Thoughts about Tim:

With only a few words, it’s difficult to describe Dr. Timothy Moy.

He was witty and fun, sharp as a razor, knowledgeable about history, and passionate about exploring ideas pertaining to science and society. He offered balanced, provoking ideas and research in this venue. I can’t imagine his teaching at the University of New Mexico being other than engaging and superb. His students say this too.

But what if there was another category by which to remember Tim? What if there was an award, “Best person to go to lunch with at the Frontier”? This might not sound like a significant distinction, but it is. I had the privilege to do this a number of times with Tim. He would win hands-down.

You could always count on Tim. It’s different to imagine moving into a 21th century not peppered with some sage thoughts, queries, and novel perspectives from Tim.

- Steve Getty

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I, too, am deeply saddened by Tim’s passing. I remember being up in Santa Fe a decade ago when we were working to protect the integrity of science education, and Tim and I spent an afternoon roaming the halls of the Roundhouse. I was just amazed at how Tim bounced from office to office attempting to get the attention of New Mexico’s elected officials. With a little quirky laugh and ever-present smile, Tim really knew how to move in the halls of power. I’m glad he went into the history of science, but he could have been a first-rate lobbyist.

I shall also always treasure a discussion we had one evening after a Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education (CESE) board meeting. It was our habit to socialize at Applebbee’s after our monthly meetings. As a group of us were waiting to be seated, the conversation turned to Galileo. As a sidebar, Tim mentioned that Galileo’s middle finger had been removed years after Galileo’s death and now sat in glass holder in a museum in Florence. I was half convinced at the time that Tim had just made this up. Of course, history is always better than fiction.

This is just one very small example of how Tim was able to see the big picture from history and make it truly interesting. I retell the Galileo finger story to my students every year and tell them to be sure to retell it to their parents at the dinner table--without gestures, of course.

I deeply treasure all that I learned from Tim. His life was far, far too short. I shall think of him often, and I humbly offer my condolences to his wife, Rebecca and son, Luke.

-Steve Brügge

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Occasionally we're reminded that life comes to us one day at a time, with no guarantees about tomorrow. And sometimes it seems as if the fickle finger of fate likes to claim the best and the brightest much too soon.

Others have been more eloquent than I, but I have one story. When I heard that Tim was scheduled to speak in Alamogordo (no doubt the same talk Don Neidig referred to in his recent message) I recalled that I had old friends there who felt badly outnumbered among their conservative neighbors. Not sure I still knew how best to get in touch, I ermailed them, left a phone message, and sent a snail mail urging them to go hear Tim. Tim later reported to me that my friends told him that after receiving all three messages, they felt compelled, and wouldn't have missed it.

Nancy and I are among the many who are very sad about Tim's death.

-Jerry Shelton

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Tim touched thousands of lives in many ways, and very deeply. I learned many things about Tim at his memorial service. I am vowing to become a better person for having known him. I am going to try to be just a little bit more like Tim Moy. I plan to be just a little bit less combative, a little bit more focused on others, a little bit less strident, a little bit more patient, a little bit less cynical, and a little bit more entertained by the silliness of pop culture, comic books, Harry Potter, and Star Trek. This might not be a noticeable change. If there was some laboratory instrument to measure my future "Moyness" I probably can't hope to register more than a millimoy or so. But like I said, Tim touched thousands of lives. We all have a little bit of Tim in us. If we are all enhanced by just one miliimoy, then the sum total of the change in all of us is a full Moy, and Tim lives on--at least in some form--and the world is better for it.

-Mark Boslough

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This tragedy seems devastating. Just so everyone up north won't forget what Tim did for us down south: You may recall there was a creationist speaker invited to an NMSU-Alamogordo lecture series. To counter that intrusion, it was arranged to have Tim make a later presentation at the same series. The audience was packed. He really nullified what the previous speaker had to say, and we will always be grateful for Tim's enormous contribution.

-Don Neidig