Re: Phil Scott

["Oosten, J. van (Jaap)" <J.vanOosten@uu.nl>]

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It was Phil who informed me, in May of 2022, of the sudden death of my former PhD student Pieter Hofstra, who had become a colleague in Ottawa and a friend of Phil. I ws eager to know more, but didn't push since I felt it wasn't the right time. A year later, May 2023, I mailed Phil to ask whether we might meet at CT23 in Louvain-la-Neuve. He could not come to Europe but he proposed that we talk on skype since, as he rather off-handedly remarked, he was facing an operation with no certainty that he would survive.

We then talked on Skype and Phil told me the horrible story of Pieter's last year, and how he had been with Pieter almost every day.

We had another short exchange of mails this fall, when Phil told me the operation had not been an unqualified success. He was hoping to be able to visit Edinburgh in te summer of 2024.

Yes, I also went through "Introduction to higher-order categorical logic" as a master student (and I bought​ a copy!). But the candidness about his own illness, and the warmth he showed a younger colleague in grave difficulties, have made a deeper impression on me.

Jaap van Oosten
________________________________
Van: Joyal, André <joyal.andre@uqam.ca>
Verzonden: woensdag 20 december 2023 20:49
Aan: Jason Parker <jasonparker300@gmail.com>; Richard Blute <rblute@uottawa.ca>
CC: Categories mailing list <categories@mq.edu.au>
Onderwerp: Re: Phil Scott


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Dear all,

To Rick Blute, Robin Cockett and Simon Henry

I am very sad to learn that Phil has left us for another world.
I knew him from the time he was studying with Jim Lambek, about 50 years ago.
I have a good memory of the lively discussions we had in a café in the
Mile-End near McGill. He was always eager to discuss new ideas and
he had an apparent limitless thirst for mathematics.
His book with Lambek, "Introduction Higher Categorical Logic" is a landmark.
He created the school of category theory in Ottawa.

I owe him a personal debt: a few years ago, he took the initiative of presenting
my case to the Jeffery-Willams prize of the CMS, which I won in 2022!
Thank you Phil!

I wish there is a paradise for mathematicians, so they can continue their research.
Phil was a good angel and we need help.

André Joyal
________________________________
De : Jason Parker <jasonparker300@gmail.com>
Envoyé : 20 décembre 2023 12:17
À : Richard Blute <rblute@uottawa.ca>
Cc : Categories mailing list <categories@mq.edu.au>
Objet : Re: Phil Scott

Dear all,

I am very saddened to hear of Phil's passing. Phil was one of my PhD advisors at the University of Ottawa from 2015-2020 (along with Pieter Hofstra, who also sadly passed away in 2022). He was an extremely kind and supportive mentor in mathematics and in life. I also knew him to be a very caring and conscientious teacher, from when I served as a teaching assistant for his discrete mathematics course (on more than one occasion), and from when I took a graduate course with him on categorical logic.

I last saw him in person when I had a post-PhD-defense celebratory dinner at the Green Door restaurant in Ottawa (one of his favourites!), and in recent years I had seen him at various online seminars and conferences. I last spoke to him over e-mail in October, not knowing that that would be the last time we would speak.

May he rest in peace.

-Jason Parker

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 6:36 AM Richard Blute <rblute@uottawa.ca<mailto:rblute@uottawa.ca>> wrote:





It is with great sadness that we convey the news to the category theory community that our good friend and colleague Phil Scott passed away this morning (18th December, 2023) after a long battle with cancer.



Phil’s many contributions to category theory are well known. Phil and Jim Lambek essentially invented the field of categorical proof theory with a series of papers that culminated in the book “Introduction To Higher-Order Categorical Logic”, which is still the standard text on the subject. Phil’s research went well beyond these initial works: he made major contributions to theoretical computer science, linear logic, inverse semigroup theory and recursion theory.



Those of us who knew him personally will always think of him as a mentor, a friend and a genuinely kind soul.



Rick Blute

Robin Cockett

Simon Henry





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