If memory serves me right, I’ve know Jeff now for about 15 years. He is just about the smartest guy I have ever met – and not just on his thesis topic either (computational quantum chemistry), but on many, many subjects useful to a lithographer, chemist, or scientist in general. I have learned a tremendous amount from Jeff, and it seems I learn something more every time we talk. For example, last year Jeff taught me how to brew beer. I had brewed a few times before that, but had no idea what I was doing. Jeff is a master brewer, and his advise and hints instantly shot my brewing results up to a new level. Jeff, with his wife Carita, built the house that they live in almost entire by themselves (in Blue, Texas), and the place is beautiful. Jeff is also just a plain, old, ordinary good man. A man whose instincts and actions on social justice have inspired me, whose kindness to those around him has awed me, and whose friendship has improved me.

Last night Jeff Byers was in a car accident. He is in a coma. That is just about all I know at the moment. Except I know, as much as I know anything else, that I want him to get better.