From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 11886 invoked from network); 1 Aug 2020 14:13:38 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 1 Aug 2020 14:13:38 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 081029CB47; Sun, 2 Aug 2020 00:13:37 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1307F9C9E3; Sun, 2 Aug 2020 00:13:12 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 748839C9E3; Sun, 2 Aug 2020 00:13:11 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id EBB7A93DFC for ; Sun, 2 Aug 2020 00:13:10 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id 99F9335E0BB; Sat, 1 Aug 2020 07:13:10 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2020 07:13:10 -0700 From: Larry McVoy To: markus schnalke Message-ID: <20200801141310.GQ10778@mcvoy.com> References: <202007310003.06V03OoV073870@chez.mckusick.com> <1k1lj2-7nP-00@marmaro.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1k1lj2-7nP-00@marmaro.de> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Dennis Ritchie's Dissertation X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On Sat, Aug 01, 2020 at 09:14:36AM +0200, markus schnalke wrote: > Hoi. > > [2020-07-30 20:30] Dan Cross > > > > I understood from Mike Anshel that he was rather proud of this, [...] > > I once read that someone is famous when people omit the titles, > because they add nothing to the name, but rather would smaller it. > A good example is Albert Einstein. Who cares what titles he has. > > Another is Dennis Ritchie. What does it matter what degrees, titles, > whatever he has? -- He's already a genius! My dad wasn't famous, but he had a PhD in physics. He never asked people to call him Dr McVoy. As we grew up and realized he could be called that we asked him why not. He said it sounds fancy, the only time he used it was when he wanted a table at a crowded restaurant (which was very rare, Madison didn't pay him very well). Somehow that stuck with me and I've always been sort of wary of people who use their title. The people I admire never did. Someone on the list said that they thought Dennis wouldn't appreciate it if we got his PhD official. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but I agreed. And I think it is because the people who are really great don't need or want the fancy title. I may be over thinking it, but Dennis does not need the title, it does nothing to make his legacy better, his legacy is way way more than that title. Which is a long ramble to say I agree with Markus.