© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Opinion: Remembering Michael Hawley, Remarkable Polymath And Exceptional Friend

Michael Hawley told me he had cancer a few months ago but didn't have a bucket list of things to do. "Just friends I want to see," he said.

I was blessed — a word Michael used generously, even as a scientist — to be among them.

Michael Hawley died this week at the age of 58, after a life packed with feats and friendships.

He led a scientific expedition on Mount Everest. He tied for first place in the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and played at a wedding alongside Yo-Yo Ma. He designed video games for George Lucas and digitized The Complete Works of Shakespeare. He wrote electronic music in Paris. He accompanied the great soprano, Charity Tillemann-Dick and aided her though her own terminal illness. He helped Steve Jobs launch NeXT Computers, and taught at the MIT Media Lab, where his Things That Think and Toys of Tomorrow projects prophesied so much of the ways in which our world would become digitally connected — which, Michael would sometimes remind those who sounded rhapsodic over the prospect, had alarming implications, too.

He organized an annual conference of ideas called EG, for Entertainment Gathering, which welcomed musicians, comedians, astronauts, programmers, doctors, actors and magicians — because he felt scientists, artists, engineers and entertainers ought to appreciate one another.

Michael Hawley collected friends. He didn't compile names, or network as a verb. He met people, learned from them and tried to nourish them all with new ideas and friendships. I'd see an email from Michael, time-stamped after midnight, and wonder if he was up late at home in Cambridge, or on a mountain in Kyrgyzstan. "I just learned something," he'd start out. "Let me introduce you to..."

When Michael got his cancer diagnosis, he told me he wanted to write a short, urgent book, dedicated to his wife, Nina, and their infant son, Tycho. He shared some thoughts. As I read, I realized that Michael didn't want to write a memoir about famed names and stellar accomplishments, but raise a clear call from the heart of a husband and father about what he'd learned was truly vital.

"Great gifts and great sacrifices go hand in hand," Michael Hawley wrote. "So I try to regard my cancer as a gift. It isn't easy. (But) It has brought me empathy that no amount of imagination or secondhand experience can impart. It forces me to focus on the people I love and the moments that matter most in the brief time we are blessed to have."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: June 27, 2020 at 12:00 AM EDT
A previous version of this story mistakenly said Michael Hawley won the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. In fact, he tied for first place in the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.