Today, the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, James Doohan has died. He'll be missed.
He was a D-Day veteran, versatile actor, master of dialects, and beloved as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, chief engineer of the Federation starship USS Enterprise (that's "NCC 1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D.")
The NY Times has a mostly snarky obituary (shame on you, John Schwartz), but this part is moving.
Mr. Doohan influenced a generation of engineers, who saw him as a role model. The Milwaukee School of Engineering awarded Mr. Doohan an honorary doctor of engineering degree in 1993 "after a survey of students revealed that a large number of respondents said the character Scotty's 'engineer' title piqued their interest in the field," said Kathleen McCann, a spokeswoman for the school. "He brought the field of engineering to the forefront of pop culture," she said in an e-mail response to questions.When he attended a special James Doohan Farewell Star Trek Convention last summer, using a wheelchair but alert, one of the people who spoke at the ceremony was Neil Armstrong, the first person to actually walk on the soil of another world and a "Star Trek" fan. According to accounts of the event, Mr. Armstrong said he hoped his next command would be a Federation starship, and added "if I get that command, I want a chief engineering officer like Montgomery Scott."
Related:
• StarTrek.com - Remembering James Doohan
• TrekToday - James Doohan dies at 85