Today Physicists have lost a great mind. Eduardo was always kind to his students and coworkers. Researchers from different nationalities would mention him as soon as I told them I was from São Paulo . He was a reference guide towards our institutions. Eduardo was very passioned about his work and kept discussing physics and being a part of the research group even through hard times. I would like him to be remembered on our progress through science, in his students work and by many other people he has motivated.
The particle physics community is always moving around the world. Therefore, I believe that a great part of his friends, family, collaborators, students, and professors are also far from São Paulo. This is why I would like to share a website where people may write their memories with Eduardo Pontón.
Gabriela Lichtenstein
São Paulo, June 13th 2019
Alberto Tonero
A man that faced his illness with great dignity and courage. An example to us all. I am glad to had the privilege to share moments of working and social life with you, thanks Eduardo!
Markus Luty
I was Eduardo's Ph.D. advisor at the University of Maryland in the 1990s. Eduardo and Zacharia Chacko were the first two Ph.D. students in my career, and the three of us worked together over a period of several years that I will always remember as one of the happiest and most productive of my scientific life. I would like to share some memories of that time with his friends and family.
Soon after he became my student, Eduardo was diagnosed with colitis, a digestive disease that made it impossible for him to work. I told him to focus on his recovery, but suggested that we meet weekly to discuss physics. His love of physics was obvious to me, and I hoped that this would help keep his spirits up. After a few months of this, Eduardo was able to get the disease under control, and we were able to start working together.
Eduardo is quiet by nature (while I am not), so at first our meetings together were mostly me talking and him listening. But I learned to recognize the signals Eduardo would send me when something I was saying did not make sense: a slight frown, a mildly puzzled look, and somehow he managed to be even quieter. I quickly figured out that every time he sent me these signals, I was saying something wrong, so I started really tuning in! Eduardo was never satisfied with an argument or derivation unless it was completely clear and elegant. My private nickname for him was "the perfect filter," because if I could get him to accept something, I knew I could trust it.
For me, collaboration is the soul of science. During the years that Eduardo and Chacko were my students, the three of us developed a rhythm, a way of navigating our different personalities and styles of thought to become a genuine team. Only rarely in my career have I experienced a collaboration as productive and joyful as the one I shared with them.
I am enormously happy and proud that Eduardo went on to a very successful career in physics. I was fortunate to be there at the beginning of his journey. The last time I saw him was in 2017 during a visit to Sao Paulo, where we had a good long talk. Eduardo was just about to go into another bone marrow transplant, but he was calm, cheerful, and philosophical. Like all of us, his life had its share of disappointments, and it certainly ended far too soon. But over the years I always saw him as a fundamentally happy person. I will always remember his love of precision, his understated sense of irony and humor, and his matter-of-fact handling of all that life threw his way.
My heartfelt condolences to his colleagues, friends, and family.
Ali Shayegan
Although I've never met Eduardo, he was kind enough to help me with my physics question. And he did that on new year's day. My condolences to the family.
Antonio Delgado
I am still unable to believe he is gone. He was a collaborator, a colleague and a friend.
David Morrissey
Eduardo and I overlapped while I was a graduate student and he was a postdoc at Fermilab. He was always very kind to me, and he answered many questions I had. We overlapped a number of times after that, and I remember him as a wonderful person and an excellent physicist.
Rogerio Rosenfeld
Eduardo used to hang glide. Following his wishes, on Saturday June 29 his close family and some friends scattered his ashes in Pedra Grande, near São Paulo, were he used to fly. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and no clouds, with many people flying. He would have loved it. It was our last farewell to Eduardo. It was an honor to share this world with him.
Jose W F Valle
His early death constitutes a real loss for Brazilian and Latin-American physics!
Rodrigo Nemmen
I still cannot believe that Eduardo Ponton is not among us anymore. What an inspirational, charismatic person he was. He was an example of a person with a calm mind, always radiating positivity to those around him. He will be greatly missed—as a friend and as a physicist.
Gustaaf Brooijmans
Eduardo and I came to Columbia at about the same time, sharing a desire to understand the origin of the Standard Model. As we were discussing some model, I argued I didn't see how it would answer one problem I was interested in. Eduardo answered that maybe that was too ambitious, after all 8 out of 10 wasn't bad. I keep that in mind - it's often good advice. So long, my friend.
Diogo Buarque Franzosi
I met Eduardo during my two visits to ICTP-SAIFR in 2016 and 2017. These were nearly two months where I shared very special moments with him, daily physics discussions, coffees and "à kilo" meals. Eduardo left us too soon for sure, but his kindness, his eagerness to help and his physics perspicacity and intuition will be remembered. Even by people like me that lived only a short time with him, it didn't required much time to recognize the great person he was. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Bithika Jain
The first thing I remember about Eduardo is his smile and that's how I like to remember him.
When I decided to move to Sao Paulo I was unaware of how short-lived my collaboration with him would be. All through his rough journey with cancer he continuously worked with us. The energy and passion he had,constantly inspired us. He would join us on hangouts for Journal clubs (even from the hospital), help us with physics whenever we felt we were stuck. There was no dull moment with him. Even till the very end he worked with us. Every minute was precious for him and now I understand why...
Eduardo you will always be my favorite physicist and the greatest teacher I ever had. I am glad I came to Sao Paulo. It has been a privilege knowing him. I am grateful that he was my mentor, working with him, spending hours talking physics has been thoroughly enjoyable. Physics is dull without you...
Emilian Dudas
I just heard about the passing away of Eduardo. I visited Sao Paolo in 2015 and Eduardo was a marvelous host. He was a deep, humble and enthousiastic theorist, with important contributions to our field. My deep condoleances to his family and friends.
Chee Sheng Fong
I arrived almost the same time as Eduardo in 2013 in São Paulo, I, as a post-doc in University of São Paulo, while he, as the first faculty member of ICTP-SAIFR. In fact, one important factor that affected my decision to come to São Paulo was because of the news that he would also be in São Paulo (I only knew him through reading his TASI lecture but was impressed enough by its clarity). The first time we met shortly after arriving here was in a Japanese restaurant, he struck me as an extremely humble person who was also filled determined righteousness. When asked what he wanted to drink, he asked for a tap water. Besides the language barrier, since this was not a common practice here, he spent some time and effort to make the waiter finally understand what he wanted. Later he justified that since the government had treated the water such that it was drinkable, we should make use of that. This episode stuck in my mind and after some research online, I have been drinking tap water at home ever since. Throughout these years in São Paulo, I was very lucky to have the chance to interact with him through our common journal club and lunch. It was too short, too soon. Nevertheless, the ideal he left us about life and physics, will stay and continue to inspire us. Finally I would to share the precious videos of him as an amazing dancer and singer in Guatemala at the end of 2016 before he became sick:
https://youtu.be/SByPg6TyZAc
https://youtu.be/aQWvRorqwI0
Giorgio Torrieri
We worked on different things, but overlapped in Columbia University and moved from there to Brasil at about the same time. It was always great to run into him and talk for a bit ,whether about the latest physics we were thinking about or life in the respective countries where the wondering life of researchers brought us. He is missed.
Gabriela Lichtenstein
This was my speech in Eduado's memorial day. There are some of the pictures in https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DuMjTLoBfw0PyolEY52NPtr93Lkte76a?usp=sharing
"My name is Gabriela, and I am a Ph.D. student at USP. Eduardo Ponton was a remarkable man. Many words were shared here to describe him: brilliant, persistent, respectful, kind. Although I have interacted with him for a brief time, his passing marked me.
The day Eduardo was gone, I was supposed to present the group's Journal Club. When I arrived at the seminar room, Ricardo told me what happened, which was a shock to everybody because he was so active during the semester. Eduardo never missed a meeting; he would always join by skype when he couldn’t be present. Eduardo joyfully shared his inspiring thoughts with us. For this reason, when I suggested postponing the presentation, Ricardo and Bithika insisted on continuing. They told me: "that is what he wanted!".
The memorial that day became one hour of Physics. There was no better way to honor him than to have fun discussing science.
However, by the end of the day, the work was done, and an immense sadness took over the environment. I felt that I needed to say goodbye and pay my condolences to friends and family. Then I published a page where we could write our testimonials in the hope of bringing some comfort. It allowed people to express themselves, specially if they were not around. I want to thank all of the answers. In case someone still wants to write, I will leave it opened to new comments. You may access it through the symposium site or email me.
Eduardo taught me not only Physics but also to persist during hard times. He continued doing things he loved with a smile on the face. His perseverance and strength was an example of life. "