# Brian J. Thompson has died (91)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 30, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872 "2024-01-30T18:21:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872/1 "2024-01-30T18:21:29Z")

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Longtime Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Rochester, Professor, author of **The Physical Optics Notebook** and its successor **The New Physical Optics Notebook** , longtime editor of the journal **Optical Engineering** , and general optics know-it-all, has died. "

“BJ the DJ” one of my fellow students used to irreverently call him.

It’s the end of an era.

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872/2 "2024-01-30T19:08:32Z")

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Was he also a disc jockey then?

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872/3 "2024-01-30T19:20:23Z")

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Nope. My friend just liked the rhyme.

He also liked calling up Professor Emil Wolf just to listen to his answering machine message. Wolf sounded amazingly like Ludwig von Drake.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-j-thompson-has-died-91/996872/4 "2024-02-01T12:12:53Z")

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well bummer, but he wasn’t a spring chicken when I took a couple classes from him back in 78-79.