Robert M. May, Deceased, 84

The National Center for Science Education mourned the loss of one its inspirations. Every era has its character; era cohort has its heroes, inspires, and educators. Robert May, to the detriment of the educational community in ecology, died on April 28, 2020. Within the community of those who knew him, he was considered a polymath with a start of an intellectual career in physics evolving into a passion and complete career transition into theoretical ecology and population biology. One popular text edited by him was entitled Theoretical Ecology: Principles and Applications (1976) into its third edition now.

Given the “polymath” title for the late May, this comes with a context apart from the transition late in career into the study of ecology. Indeed, he performed research work in epidemiology and finance. His work and expertise became an integral part of informing the highest office of power. In that, we can see from 1995 to 2000 the position of Chief Scientific Adviser to the government of the United Kingdom and from 2000 to 2005 as the President of the Royal Society. A man of calibre and excellence recognized by peers and scientific community who was placed in a position of authority and responsibility to the larger society.

For this work, he deserves praise and approbation because he helped inform all of our lives, as all of our lives are grounded in technology and the technology of society is based on the discoveries of science by scientists like May. May was part of the long effort to combat creationism in the school system, i.e…