Farewell...Well, Almost

It has now been over ten years since Neil Davis first started writing this column in 1976. When Neil retired five years ago, I assumed the duties of coordinating the column and writing many of the articles. Now I'm about to retire too.

The experience has been one of the most pleasant and rewarding of my life -- and one of the most educational. I have been repeatedly amazed at the sophistication of so many Alaskans who have written to suggest topics, submit their own ideas, contribute articles and (more often than I would like to admit) straighten me out on my own mistakes. To all those who have written with contributions to the column, kind words or outright criticism, I express my deepest appreciation. In all, over 800 articles have been produced. At the outset, I would not have believed that there could be that many topics to talk about, particularly if they were to be constrained largely to science in the north. I was obviously mistaken, as readers from across the state keep coming up with new ideas.

Future columns will probably not show much change initially. It has been suggested that various members of the Geophysical Institute take turns writing the column. This is probably a good idea. As a seismologist, I have tended to overemphasize earthquakes, faults and geologic features in my articles, As a space physicist, Neil wrote columns that often dealt with the aurora. A more even balance over all the sciences should be a welcome change to those readers who have heard us repeat ourselves.

I'll still be around until the details are worked out. However, be prepared to see reruns of several past articles that seem to have been the most interesting, based on reader response. These we hope will be interspersed with fresh articles from many new writers from both the faculty and the general public. After all, when Neil started this column ten years ago, the intent was to provide a science FORUM, in which everybody could participate. Aloha.