19-02 2021 15:52
wrote:
I met Denis when I was a postgrad student in New Zealand. He was the first academic I really got to know outside my department. In this, I was lucky. I was inspired by his brilliance, curiosity, wit, his combination of deep seriousness with humour, analysis with passion, hard work with enjoyment of life and of the best things that academic life can offer. He was also incredibly generous and as well as inspiring me to follow this career path, did a lot to help me. As well as inviting me to give my first departmental talk in Hertfordshire while I was still a PhD student, he hosted me in his beautiful flat in the Ancient Quarter of Toulouse for two or three weeks in 1999, while I was in-between conferences. I could never have afforded that first international academic trip without this help. In that time, he took me to visit his friends around the South of France, taking in Bordeaux and Carcassonne, and took me to sit in on live behavioural economics experiments he and Bruno Biais were running. It's only after several years of working in academia that I realised how extraordinary his generosity and openness was. I'll never forget that time. Looking at the condolences here and social media posts over the last few days, I can see that he has touched their lives in similar ways. Those posts also make clear that his research and his values as a researcher have also left a powerful legacy. Though he did socially important and resonant work in the social psychology of history and economic decision making, he affirmed the inherent value of knowledge, creativity, and curiosity. When we point telescopes up at the sky we don't do it in the pursuit of some short term material or social benefit, but because we want to find more out about ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Denis (and his friend and wonderful supervisor to me, John McClure) taught me that it's OK, even essential, to do psychological research for the same reasons. Thank you Denis, and condolences to Anna, Victoria, friends and family.
19-02 2021 15:52
wrote:
I met Denis when I was a postgrad student in New Zealand. He was the first academic I really got to know outside my department. In this, I was lucky. I was inspired by his brilliance, curiosity, wit, his combination of deep seriousness with humour, analysis with passion, hard work with enjoyment of life and of the best things that academic life can offer. He was also incredibly generous and as well as inspiring me to follow this career path, did a lot to help me. As well as inviting me to give my first departmental talk in Hertfordshire while I was still a PhD student, he hosted me in his beautiful flat in the Ancient Quarter of Toulouse for two or three weeks in 1999, while I was in-between conferences. I could never have afforded that first international academic trip without this help. In that time, he took me to visit his friends around the South of France, taking in Bordeaux and Carcassonne, and took me to sit in on live behavioural economics experiments he and Bruno Biais were running. It's only after several years of working in academia that I realised how extraordinary his generosity and openness was. I'll never forget that time. Looking at the condolences here and social media posts over the last few days, I can see that he has touched their lives in similar ways. Those posts also make clear that his research and his values as a researcher have also left a powerful legacy. Though he did socially important and resonant work in the social psychology of history and economic decision making, he affirmed the inherent value of knowledge, creativity, and curiosity. When we point telescopes up at the sky we don't do it in the pursuit of some short term material or social benefit, but because we want to find more out about ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Denis (and his friend and wonderful supervisor to me, John McClure) taught me that it's OK, even essential, to do psychological research for the same reasons. Thank you Denis, and condolences to Anna, Victoria, friends and family.