In Memory of Professor Tom Branson
October 10, 1953-March 11, 2006

Reminiscences from Colleagues and Other Information

Dear Department,

It was a truly sad message (received via Hans Plesner Jakobsen, our head of department) which was in the mail this morning. Toms family, the department at Iowa and Toms many friends around the world have suffered a great loss. Toms character was much appreciated when he was in Denmark and I am just one among the staff members in Copenhagen who made friends with him - in my case without any great overlap in mathematical interests. I had looked forward to seeing him again and playing tennis with him later this year on his planned visit to Denmark, but now ...

Please convey my greatest sympathy and thanks to his family as well.

Yours sincerely,
-Flemming Topsoe

Tom Branson obtained his PhD from MIT in 1979 and worked at the University of Iowa since 1985. He had an outstanding career in mathematical research. His motivation came from geometry, physics, and symmetry and his work is distinguished as a highly original blend of these three elements.

In the early 1980s his work on conformal invariance was significantly ahead of its time. In all his research, he utilized to great effect the natural interplay between this invariance and the underlying symmetry groups. It is a highly influential theme and Tom Branson's work now motivates a thriving international research effort in this direction.

In the early 1990s he introduced an extremely subtle quantity known as "Branson's Q- curvature," which is now seen as absolutely fundamental in conformal geometry. His recent work further developed Q-curvature and pursued many other aspects of symmetry, invariance, and geometry too varied to list here. Its impact will always be felt.

In addition to his substantial and continuing research effort, Tom Branson was tireless and selfless in looking after students and in organizing workshops and conferences. These efforts were always well beyond the call of duty. His untimely death is deeply saddening and the mathematical community will miss him sorely.

Mike Eastwood.
Professor,
School of Mathematical Sciences,
The University of Adelaide, Australia

Tom Branson and I first met in 1992, when I took the graduate course in analysis at Iowa. I later took differential geometry and general relativity from Tom, and we went to the geometry seminar together.
When it came time for me to begin work with a thesis adviser, Tom and I agreed to work together. We used to meet in his office for an hour every week. I worked on a problem in conformal geometry, and in 1998, I received my Ph.D., with Tom as my adviser.

Throughout the course of my work with Tom, I always felt that my specialty was differential geometry. And yet over the years I have gained a deeper appreciation of the fact that modern geometry often involves concepts and tools from many different branches of mathematics. Tom had a strong knowledge differential geometry and these other branches. This enabled him to write a very large number of research papers. Tom wrote many of these papers on his own, but he also worked with a very large number of collaborators, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Tom gave me a very good thesis problem to work on. This was important, given the complexity of the topics that Tom was interested in. My topic was simple enough for a beginner and complex enough to provide a challenge. It also provided me with an introduction to a very important area of current mathematical research. After graduation, I moved to my current job here at the University of North Dakota, but Tom and I stayed in touch via e-mail. He gave me some tips on how to get my first article accepted for publication. Tom also helped me in other ways; he was an organizer for several mathematical meetings, conferences, and special programs, some of which I attended. Through these meetings I was able to establish collaborations with other mathematicians.

One of the meetings I attended was the Midwest Geometry Conference at the University of Iowa in November of 2000. At that time, the NSF grant for the Midwest Geometry Conference was about to expire. So during the 2000 conference, Tom held an organizational meeting to plan future conferences. He suggested that the University of North Dakota hold one of the conferences in the series, and to my amazement, everyone seemed agreeable to the idea. With the help of many others, I prepared a new NSF grant proposal for the conference series. The NSF eventually funded the proposal, and we held a successful conference here in North Dakota!

For the last year or two I have been in less contact with Tom. I was working with one or two other collaborators of my own. I also knew that Tom had other responsibilities. But we still kept in touch.
Just this past Christmas, I extended my usual season's greetings. Tom sent me a digital photo of his two daughters, one with bare feet, even though snow could be seen in the background! At my request, he also sent me some advice on future directions for my own research activities. Just the day before his passing, Tom and I exchanged some messages concerning some preparations for yet another special program that Tom was organizing!

I think Tom had a sincere love of mathematics. Upon questioning, he once told me that he made "steady progress" in his research. He said he appreciated the fact that other people were interested in the things he was doing for his research. Another indication of Tom's love of mathematics is a short little conversation I remember having had with him many years ago. The discussion turned to the idea of administrative jobs and the possibility of getting promoted to a job as the dean of the college or some higher position. His reply to this was that if he had wanted to be a manager or an administrator, he would have simply taken a job in industry. Now of course we all know that our society needs administrators and managers, and I think Tom knew that too. But his career ambition was mathematics itself. He was more interested in mathematics than in rising up the administrative ranks!

I think Tom also had a sincere interest in the success of his students. He wanted me to succeed, and he wanted his other students to succeed as well, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. We will certainly miss Tom. I extend my sympathy to Susanne, Tom and Susanne's children, and to Tom's family and friends!

Larry Peterson
University of North Dakota
 

Dear Sir

I just want to tell you how sorry I am that Tom Branson has left us. He was a good friend of mine, I live in Luxembourg and have met him many times in France before when he came to work at the university.
I would like to ask you to transmit my deep condoleances to his wife and his children.
I'll keep him in my heart, he was a wonderful, straight, honest and kind man!

My heart is so heavy when I think of you Tom although I know that you are light, a light as you have been to us down here and light in your soul, flying away from us, flying over there, somewhere and you are happy.

Renate Trubenecker

From Ivan Avramidi:

I was shocked to hear the sad news about Tom. I will try to call Suzanne, but in case I do not reach her, please express my deepest condolences to her. Tom will always be missed by me as one of the nicest persons I have ever met. He has done so much for me ...

Ivan.

From Vincent G.J. Rodgers:

Hi Palle, thank you for the message. It is crushing news.

Sadly,
Vincent.

From Rod Gover:

Dear Palle

I have just got news of this tragedy. Please pass on my wishes to Susanne and the girls. This is really awful news.

Rod.

From Bent Ørsted:

Thomas P. Branson was a well-known mathematician with over 70 published scientific papers. His research interests spanned a large area of modern mathematical physics and differential geometry, and he made several important contributions to these subjects.

Thomas P. Branson found new classes of wave equations analogous to those for zero-mass particles and made profound studies of their geometric properties; he introduced a new curvature invariant now important in quantum field theory, and he was a leading expert in calculating explicitly many other invariants associated with differential equations arising in physics and geometry.

Bent.

Bent Ørsted; Professor of Mathematics, Aarhus University, Denmark.

From Henrik Schlichtkrull; Professor, University of Copenhagen; Denmark.

Kaere Palle

Jeg har netop talt med Bent i telefonen, og han naevnte at du ville tage dig af nogle blomster til Tom, fra alle os der ikke har mulighed for at deltage. Tak for det.
Tom var postdoc her ved instituttet i midten af 80'erne i en ret lang periode, hvor ogsaa jeg selv var i samme situation.

Alle her er naturligvis rystet over at han er gaaet bort saa tidligt, og det skaerer i hjertet at taenke paa Susanne og bornene. Tom var ogsaa ansat ved RUC i en periode omkring 1990, samtidig med Gestur, og for mig var det nogle meget frugtbare ugentlige moder vi havde. Vi skrev ogsaa et par faelles artikler paa baggrund af disse moeder.

Venlig hilsen

Henrik.

Translation of Henrik Schlichtkrull's letter. [PJ: Apologies! The texture changes a little in translation.]

I was completely shocked by the news of Tom passing away. I wish to express my deepest condolences to his wife Susanne and his daughters.

I knew Tom since 1996, when I came to the United States to become his PhD student. He was a great teacher, a true mentor figure for me. The breadth of his Mathematical insight shaped my own interests in Mathematics and inspired my own research. I will always remember his great personality and his unique sense of humor.

Tom's untimely death is a great loss for his family, the Department and for the Math community.

Oleg Svidersky

Tom was a good friend of long standing. Perhaps our most famous joint paper was the computation of that a_6 term in the heat trace expansion for manifolds with boundary. We collaborated on a number of other papers -- visited me once at the UO and I visited him once at Iowa. I enjoyed our collaboration both on scientific and on personal grounds. He will be missed.

Peter B Gilkey

Although I'd been keenly aware of Tom's deep and important work on conformally invariant differential operators since the 1980s, I'd never had the opportunity to meet him until 1999, when we both participated in a conference he'd helped organize in Luminy, France. At that time, we immediately  hit it off, not only because of our many shared mathematical interests, but also because of certain attitudes
toward life we shared as middle-aged fathers of young children. It was thus a profound pleasure to re-encounter Tom at meetings in California, Canada, and Taiwan over the course of the next few years. The conversations we shared there have left an indelible impression on me. I will always remember Tom, not only for his profound mathematical insights, but also for his great personal charm, humor, and wit.

No words from a stranger could possibly help assuage the infinite feelings of grief and loss his family must be experiencing at the present. But in the months and years to come, as his daughters begin to take stock of who they are and where they've come from, it may be a source of some consolation to realize that, although their Dad's consuming passion for mathematics often took him far from home, his love for his little girls always remained a core feature of his being --- one that was apparent even to colleagues who knew him primarily as a mathematician.

Claude LeBrun

From Alice Chang, and Paul Yang [Chang, Sun-Yung A.; Yang, Paul C.]; Professors of Mathematics; Princeton University.

In memory of Thomas Branson

We were shocked and deeply saddened by the news. It is difficult to accept such a tragedy.

Our acquantance with Tom began with our interest in his work about conformally covariant operators in 1990 nowadays often called Branson-Paneitz operators. We had some joint work together on the
functional determinant of the conformal Laplacian on 4-manifold. We had learned many things from Tom since then. It was a fruitful collaboration and one of the key development in our career.

Over the years we gradually came to know Tom a bit beyond that as an outstanding mathematician. He is a very kind, fair and responsible gentleman, who is about the most hard working and dedicated
mathematician we ever met. We knew we can count on Tom to answer any questions put to him, to show up on time at any meeting or workshop that he organized or promised to attend. We were so glad for him when he  married and began to have a family.

The loss of Tom will be difficult for many of us to endure.

Alice and Paul

I met Tom when I was still a graduate student, fumbling for a thesis problem; and I remember the first conversation we had about mathematics, in the lobby of some hotel in Albequerque, New Mexico, in the late 80s. Tom was friendly and very helpful; and it is not an exaggeration to say that I spent the better part of my early career mining the rich veins of ideas in several of his papers.

Over the years, Tom and I talked about mathematics many times and in many places, but we also talked about our families, and other things that are ultimately more important than math. He visited me at Notre Dame about a year ago, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my house with my wife and children. Tom taught the kids some guessing games that he played with his girls. I remember the kind way he smiled as my son repeatedly blurted out the wrong answer, and how he entertained my oldest daughter with stories about his horses.

To Susanne and the girls, I offer my deepest sympathies. I will miss Tom as a colleague and friend.

Sincerley,

Matt Gursky

Not having Tom as part of our community will be a great loss.
He was a wonderful colleague, always full of energy and ideas for new projects and new opportunities to further the field, both as a researcher and an organizer. He answered many questions of mine over the years and was very helpful and influential in my work. Most of all I enjoyed his relaxed but focused style and his ubiquitous sense of humor. It was always a pleasure to be in his company. He will be sorely missed.

It is hard to imagine that he is no longer with us. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family.

Robin Graham

From Antoni Pierzchalski; Professor; one of Tom's co-authors; former visitor with us at U of I.

Dear Friends, I think we are too sad to understand our loss.

Tom was a great mathematician, His achievements are high. More than 70 important papers. Every differential geometer all over the world appreciate Tom's stature.

But, first of all, he was a great man.

Dear Tom, Thank you, thank you for everything! For your mathematics. For all your results. For the complete characterization of the ellipticity: "Stein-Weiss operators an ellipticity" in the J. Funct. Analysis (1997), your famous, great paper.

It was always something mysterious in you doing mathematics: Deep understanding, clarity, brilliant calculations, and the passion.

I had the honor and the pleasure of working with you a little, to discuss mathematics, to cooperate. All your ideas are close to me and, I am sure, to all of us knowing you.

Why that happened? We are trying to understand. A Short fragile life.

But you, Tom, you have gone too early....

Still, I am happy that I met you (many years ago in Denmark: it was Bent who caused that) and then several times in Denmark in the US and in Poland. I am happy that we spent some good time and became friends. You are one of the best friends I have ever met. I am happy that I know your family. Your charming Susanne and your wonderful girls: Sara and Eva. They are a part of you. The part that will stay with us here on our further road.

And as usual,

Best regards,
Antoni.

I met Tom and Susanne in the early 1990's in Adelaide, Australia.
Having some common interests we soon started email exchanges, began collaborative work and developed a strong friendship. Over the years we visited each other many times and I have very fond memories of BBQs and beers at the Branson household. Tom was very proud of his wife Susanne and his two daughters Sarah and Eva. He would tell me many stories of their successes and strengths.

Tom and I had a very free exchange of ideas. For me this was great source of inspiration and his ideas greatly enhanced my research and my enthusiasm for many mathematical directions. He was a great source of knowledge and always ready answer questions regardless of his schedule.
I feel it is a tremendous honour to have worked with Tom and to have spent some good time in his company.

I will seriously miss the chance to work with Tom, and I will miss his wit and wisdom -- but what I will miss most is a great guy and a very best friend.

Rod Gover

I am very saddened to learn that Tom passed away on Saturday, actually during my visit to Iowa. I feel so sorry for his wife, Susanne, whom I have met a long time ago, and for the daughters, Sara and Eva, who I have unfortunately never met. But I also feel very sorry for the Department, which has lost an outstanding faculty. Tom was a close friend of mine, we were hired in the same year, 1985, he built up the Geometry group and I was busy with the PDE group. We shared many interests, and had common friends
With all my best wishes,

Friedmar Schulz

From Walter Seaman:

Tom Branson was respected all over the world for his insights, originality and productivity in Mathematics. Those of us who learned from him will greatly miss the clarity and effectiveness of his ideas in differential geometry, and especially applications of representation theory to that subject, and analysis of differential operators. So having Tom participate in seminars and additional academic and administrative work was always a joy. In addition to shouldering much more than his fair share of intellectual and administrative work in mathematics, Tom also had a great sense of humor. In seminars and meetings over the years I knew him he could always find just the right double entendre or funny pop culture reference at the right time to keep us all in stitches. Although he contributed a tremendous amount to the mathematics community nationally and internationally, it was clear that Tom also cherished his time spent with Susanne, Sara and Eva.
His untimely passing will be felt for a long time.

Walter

From William J. Ugalde; a former PhD student of Tom's, now Asst Professor at Purdue University:

There are no words to express the sadness I feel now that Tom is not among us. I have still so many questions to ask him!
More than a PhD advisor, Tom was a real mentor. A friend that was always there to make me grow both as a mathematician and as a person. He always had the right word of advice, and some times, the push I needed to get through. There is no doubt about how important his contributions to mathematics are, and will be in the future, since most of them are constant source of inspiration to many.
I hope his wife, daughters, family, and friends will find the comfort and the courage to live our lives in a way that reflects Tom's passion for it. Deeply sorry, but at the same time, extremely proud of having shared with Tom an everlasting and enriching friendship as no other,

William J. Ugalde.

From Carlo Morpurgo; one of Tom's co-authors. [question/answer]

Dear Palle; this is Carlo Morpurgo, I visited you a while back. I am one of Tom's collaborators, and I am shocked. Could you tell me how it happened, not that this makes any difference!

Carlo.

Palle (reply): Thanks, Carlo;
We are still in shock here. It was a completely unexpected and sudden heart attack. Despite Tom being athletic and in great shape, apparently a piece of loose plaque from a main artery can travel to a smaller one, and block the flow of blood to the heart. That is the best as I understand it (probably very incompletely.) Tom had had a regular physical only weeks before, and no signs of it were detected then. When tragedy struck (Saturday on the eleventh), Tom was driving alone with his two little girls, Sara and Eva. An ambulance came, but it was too late.

Regards,
Palle

PS.: Our dept website has more details, including info about an education fund for Sara and Eva, now in 2nd and 3rd grade.

From Vincent Rodgers; Professor of Physics, the University of Iowa.

Hi Palle, in physics Tom is also known for computing the conformal anomaly in quantum gravity and the heat kernel asymptotics. I have attached the papers he has written that have become part of the physics literature.

Sincerely,

Vincent.

PS. [Added by Palle!] The following might not be as widely known as I think it should be: Tom (from math) and Vince Rodgers (from physics) organized an ongoing workshop (physics and mathematics) which included among others student projects (undergraduate and graduate). In some form or another, this Branson-Rodgers project has now run for a decade. In his email message to me, Vince included a list of fourteen papers by Tom and co-authors which relate to this branch of Tom’s mentoring and interactive research activities.

PPS. Only a few days before Tom died, the math department had a one-day VIGRE-site visit from the NSF where our department had a chance to highlight some of our unique interdisciplinary outreach and mentoring projects here at Iowa. In the afternoon VIGRE-meeting, Tom eloquently described this Branson-Rodgers project, emphasizing the *vertical* nature of it.

Tom, the mathematician, the man, the friend and the father.

Since Monday morning, it has been so painful to realize and to accept. Tom has deeply influenced my life. With him, I learned to push the limits of what would concretely mean to have a clear and deep thinking, to take a huge distance from things and events so that the essence could be touched.
During a discussion, when Tom starts to bat his eyes, it is the indication that he got it, that he understands what was really going on. Then it was simply exceptional and intense moments of life.

Mathematics, sports, nice food, philosophical and cultural discussions, family and personal considerations, education, teaching and how to help young mathematicians, were some aspects of life which we intensively shared.

Second order Conformal Covariants, Stein-Weiss operators and Q-curvature are some higlights of his mathematical contribution in the field of Conformal Geometry which had and continue to have big impact on research, both in mathematics and mathematical physics.

The particularity of Tom's impressive research is the association of a physical intuition and motivation, a deep knowledge of Representation Theory and Differential Geometry together with an exceptional computational ability, both theoretical and explicit based on computer programs.

Professionalism, pragmatism, deepness, clarity, generosity, definiteness, intensity, originality, humour and insight are certain aspects of Tom's mathematical contribution and of his personality.

Good bye Tom, my friend.

Oussama Hijazi.

I first met Tom in his algebra class in 1997 and I remember, in the very first class, I was so much impressed by him, not just by his teaching. Later, I found he's a differential geometer and my new life with him began.
He invited me to his world and I was overwhelmed by this truly knowledgeable and wonderful man. I loved to chat with him through email and also very much liked the way he wrote things even in his research papers. I bet I can tell whether if a paper is written by him or not by reading first few pages. I liked the way he walked on the street, too.
I always wanted to stay close to him for a long, long time and keep chatting with him, keep watching him walking on the street. When I first learned that he passed away, I was so sad and so upset at him for the first time since I met him. I guess I didn't like to ask him many questions for some reason. But this time, I kept asking him why he had to die. I wanted him to come to my dream and answer this question.
I believe that he tried his best to save his life because I know he loved his wife Susanne and two little girls Sara and Eva so much.
I know I won't get email from him anymore but I believe we'll figure out a way to communicate with each other until we meet again.

Doojin Hong

From Carlo Morpurgo, one of Tom's collaborators (trace inequalities, conformally invariant operators, Zeta functions...)


I first got in touch with Tom in 1989, and for a good while most of our interaction was by email.

Initially, I had contacted him about a second variation formula I had found, while working on my PhD thesis.

I was struck by his mathematical knowledge, but especially I was touched by his kindness and availability for interacting with me; given the way our communication had started....kind of out of the blue.....

After I completed my PhD, I emailed him again about another strange formula I had found, and his response was: "This is really intriguing!" I still cherish that particular moment.

From then on, Tom was one my absolute references in my research which was heavily based on his work on conformally invariant operators, and related inequalities for the log-determinant.

His deep knowledge of the subject and his ability and patience in explaining it were clearly outstanding.

But most importantly, Tom was someone I trusted, both on a personal and a mathematical level.

I was very at ease with him.

More recently, Tom was involved with me and Luigi Fontana on a very promising project, which he himself started; we were all very excited about it, and still are. I promise you Tom: it WILL be finished!

We had plans for the summer, maybe he would have come to Italy. I was looking forward to the possibility of seeing there also Susanne, Sara and Eva, and having all of them as our guests in Milan.

I am deeply, deeply saddened by this loss, and I will miss him immensely.

My warmest thoughts to Tom's family.


Ciao, Tom!
Carlo.

From one of Tom's current PhD students, Alfredo Villanueva:

I am deeply saddened to learn of Professor Branson's passing; my condolences to his family, to his friends, and to all who felt close to him.

It took me a while to comprehend and accept what has happened. He was my mentor and also one of the best professors I have ever had. We have been working for a few years, and I have been inspired by his deep knowledge and his mathematical insight. Professor Branson, I would like to thank you for your friendship, advice, mentoring, and all the help you gave me.

Alfredo Villanueva

I knew Tom from way back, and our families are close: Christmases, Thanksgiving etc (and a shared language that no one understands, Danish!)

After the sad news about Tom, many of us cried. And lots of friends wrote in with reminiscences.

The Branson siblings, six brothers and a sister are from La Crosse Wisconsin. Although now scattered around, they all arrived here immediately on the fateful Saturday. They stayed in town for a week, helping and supporting Susanne, Sara, and Eva; and each other.

Facts: The Branson siblings lost their mom early, and they grew up taking care of one another. What a team!

I discerned a pattern. The older Jim (now a physics professor) adapted to one role, and Tom grew into the cheerful, supportive and generous friend we have all come to know. A wonderful colleague: a sunny disposition, and an inexhaustible supply of jokes when we were depressed.

Susanne and I both grew up in little Denmark where it rains all the time!

Walking on our way to the physics department here in town, or on our way to a dinner, I would complain about the Iowa City drizzle. --- "Palle, in Denmark, this is called a *dry* day!" Tom shot back. By magic, suddenly, the rain didn't matter!

Trivia: As a boy, Tom was a spelling bee! To increase his allowance, he worked for publishers doing copy editing. Jim reports that Tom did it to perfection (not surprisingly); and incredibly fast!

Susanne: "Bless you all and please, live life to its fullest!"

Palle.

From Palle Jorgensen and Mike Eastwood:

I am corresponding a lot with one of Tom's co-authors who is a very distinguished mathematical physicist and geometer, Mike Eastwood (a recent Annals paper). Here is a sentence from his last letter which confirms the value of Tom's website:
His website is an enormously useful resource, especially for his past articles (e.g. the one where Q- curvature is introduced, which you can only otherwise buy from Seoul).

All the best,
MikE


It is invaluable for students, for workers in the field, so I hope it can be preserved. In addition, it contains some historical records that can't be found elsewhere.
And in addition the geometry community involved with the three-year NSF funded conference series started by Tom, they tell me that they rely heavily on Tom's website as well. The Mid-West Geometry conference series!

Regards,
Palle

From Bent Orsted, Professor of Mathematics, Aarhus University:

Kaere Palle,
Jeg har skrevet et lille stykke om
Tom - maaske kunne du saette det paa hjemmesiden
med "recollections from colleagues"? Jeg sender
det ogsaa nu til Susanne. Det er selvfoelgelig kun
en draabe i havet, der var meget mere at sige.
Tak og venlig hilsen,
Bent.

PS. Jeg vil ogsaa skrive tilbage vedr. Mike's
udmaerkede artikel.

PPS. Jeg haaber alt gik OK til begravelse osv.

I first met Tom at MIT; this was in the late seventies and I had gone there to write a thesis under Irving Segal,who also became Tom's Ph.D. advisor. We were both interested in Segal's theories of the universe, wave equations, quantum fields, particles etc. -with the added excitement of astronomical (and controversial!) consequences: redshift and background radiation. Little did I know at the time, that Tom Branson would become a very good friend, mathematically and otherwise; that we would meet many times over the coming years, and that our lives and work would become an intertwinedpattern in time and space, for which I am thankful - and sad that it could not continue.

It has been a priviledge for me to work with Tom, and I always admired his skills for logic and for carrying out long calculations. This was not merely bookkeeping; with Tom it was part of the mathematical art to see and hear what precision and logic would squeeze out of those expressions, always keeping the structural perspective. He just really enjoyed mathematics. Not that he did not enjoy other things as well - he would apply himself with the same cheerful attention to anything from sports, language (learning Danish) and knowledge of music to the most important: family life with Susanne, Sara and Eva.

It is a testimony to Tom's gregarious nature that he worked with so many colleagues - and that so many appreciated his friendliness and humour. I do not know how many times he
could make us laugh, always with dry jokes, and with a never-ending supply of insights and quotes from the world of entertainment (say  from just one favorite, the "rumble in the jungle", i.e. the 1974 heavyweight fight in Zaire between Muhammed Ali and George Forman, where Ali reclaimed the title, warming up with: "I handcuffed lightning and put thunder in jail, I am so bad I make medicine sick!").
Later, George Forman, getting on in years (as ourselves) would be a theme of some consolation, when a sports reporter would describe the aging (still fighting) Forman: "Well, old George might be slow, but when he hits you, you are the deadest body in the cemetery".

Tom was increasing his activities it seemed on all fronts, both the research, the international cooperation, and the organization of conferences. He also went to meetings in the NSF, where his opinions were important in evaluating grant proposals.

For myself, I shall always remember Tom's friendship, how he was a dear guest in our family, the American uncle for my kids, in particular for my son Peer - and how we now miss him, now that it is hard to
comprehend, now that logic stops, perhaps in the words of William Blake:
To see the world in a grain of sand,
and heaven in a wild flower.
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.

To the memory of Thomas P. Branson.

Bent Orsted.

From Professor Rafe Mazzeo, Stanford University:

Dear Palle,

I heard about this tragic event just a few days after it had happened, from Larry Peterson. I've felt very badly ever since -- I counted him as a good friend and we had been getting to know each other much better just in the last few years, so this was really a blow for me. I hope his wife and children, whom I had never met, are doing OK and I am pleased to see that there is an educational fund for them -- I will surely donate!

I'm also very pleased to see that you are organizing this conference; please let me know if there is anything I can do to help, but in any case I'll do my best to come.

Best wishes,
Rafe Mazzeo

From Professor Bill Beckner, University of Texas, Austin.

Palle,

I was very sad to learn the news about Tom Branson. Tom was a great person, and I still remember well my visit with him in 94 at Iowa City. Tom was an original mathematician with a distinctive vision, and the impact of his mathematics, especially on geometric analysis, will only increase with time.

As a friend he will be missed by many people, and I wish only the best for his wife and daughters in this difficult moment.

--Bill

I was just told by a friend about this sad and so unexpected news.
It was hard to believe it at first. Tom was so full of life. Now I am reading the "Reminiscences from Colleagues" section of the memorial webpage and I see how much he will be missed and by so many.

I met him several times, mostly at various conferences in Europe. In January of 2004 we were in Srni for a couple of weeks lecturing together.
On more than one occasion we met in Vienna. I have learned a lot from him.
It was always a pleasure to talk to him about anything: math, politics, life... I will miss him.

Kris Galicki

From Collin Bennett, one of Tom's co-authors.

I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear about Dr. Branson. 

He was a great person and seemed to genuinely care about everyone.  He repeatedly went out of his way for me, but he seemed to do that with a lot of people.  I always thought of him as a friend, but he treated everyone the same way, so maybe he wasn't my friend, but rather everyone's. 

I don't think an epitaph changes how someone is remembered, so I don't really think that there is much to say about someone in a situation like this.  But if I knew that some words were going to be the last ones he heard from me, I would have wanted them to be "Thank you."

Collin Bennett.

Speaking of 'ceiling', here two more Tom-stories.
(1) *Roof over our heads*:
A recollection from a math meeting we both went to a few years ago in Philadelphia (Bent was there too from Denmark; but Gestur was stuck in a God forsaken airport!); it was back when I was still on crutches (although my crutches had been sent to a different hotel!):
Tom and I shared a hotel room, but we must both have been late getting our hotel reservations. When it dawned on us, Tom, with a straight face shot back: "Oh, well, we can always sleep under a bridge!"
We did get the room!

(2) *Institution*
At the reception, Tom had just introduced Bent to a big shot (PM) from France.
Polite smiles followed, some silence, and perplexed faces!
Finally PM asked Bent: "What institution are you from?"
Bent (with his poker face) : "Denmark!"

Regards
Palle
PS.: Palle: Palle Jorgensen; Bent: Bent Orsted; Gestur: Gestur Olafsson. And one more name: Paul Malliavin.

Last updated on 10/18/06 by K. Voss.