Hi All,

While Don was doing some research tonight on a new project we are engaged in, he came across an article which came as a shock and a surprise about a scientist I liked very much, Dr. Thomas McEvilly from the University of California at Berkeley. Belatedly I learned he died earlier this year from cancer.

McEvilly was one of the founding fathers of the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction Experiment and spent many years studying data which was streamed live to his office from Parkfield. I can remember clearly meeting him at his office on a Spring day in 1999. I met him in the hallway outside of his office and he was about 5'10" wearing a short sleeved plaid shirt and brown khaki pants. His hair was receding a bit, but the one thing that he had which you'll also note in the attached link, were these sparkling blue eyes.

I can remember a sign in his office which he proudly kept from the early days at Parkfield. It was wooden and said something about the experiment on it, though I can't recall the words today. We had a good conversation that day. I recall talking about Earthscope and earthquake prediction. He was a person I felt immediately comfortable with. He seemed like an old friend you would visit. Very relaxed, but when he talked about the years of work at Parkfield, his eyes sparkled and he was truly joyous.

As some months progressed, we exchanged a few e-mails and he gave me some pointers on a few matters and then I paid a second visit to his office during the Summer of ‘99. I asked him to give me an appraisal of some information I had received and he was direct and honest and offered his assistance in the matter that was before me. The matter had to do with a project I was on the verge of engaging in and somehow word leaked out that I had visited him and he told me later he was getting a number of phone calls from other scientists asking him if he was working on my project and if he intended to leave UCB. It was rather humorous to me, but not quite to him. He said I had contagious enthusiasm.

I'm sorry to learn that he's not with us today. I hope you will take a few minutes to read the attached link about him. He truly was a wonderful man and I'm sorry he won't be here when the near 6.0 rolls through Parkfield. But he did make a valuable contribution in his years of study on the Parkfield Project and I'm certain he will be remembered for many years to come for all of his accomplishments in the geo-science field, which were vast.

Petra

• McEvilly Obituary