Our man on the moon: gone but not forgotten
27 May 2021
Brian Schmidt pays tribute to the late Ross Taylor, the ANU professor who forever changed our understanding of the moon
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Apollo 11 s 1969 moon landing was an out of this world event that stopped the planet. With Neil Armstrong s famous first step and footprint in the dust, humanity had finally reached another world. It opened the potential for us all to reach for the stars.
However, at the heart of this story is a less assuming but just as important character - the late Emeritus Professor Stuart Ross Taylor; a geochemist who, while not as famous as those Apollo 11 astronauts, played just as an important part in our understanding of our closest heavenly neighbour.
Dear colleagues and students
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you to convey the sad news of the passing of former University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Stuart Saunders. He died peacefully in his sleep on 12 February 2021, after a short illness.
In light of this sad news, the UCT flag is flying at half-mast as of yesterday morning. Dr Saunders served the university exceptionally well for a remarkable 16 years, holding the role of vice-chancellor from 1981 until 1996.
A former professor of medicine at UCT, he has remained an active part of the UCT family in various ways. The most recent is through the annual Dr Stuart John Saunders Lecture, held in his honour annually for the past two years. The lecture was launched in May 2018 and was made possible by his late wife, Anita Johanna Saunders. Her intention was to pay tribute to the values demonstrated during Dr Saunders’ tenure as vice-chancellor and his impactful medical research.