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Memorial Keepers(1)
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Michael Begnaud
William "Scott" Phillips
June 14th, 1956 - October 3rd, 2023
June 14th, 1956 - October 3rd, 2023
This memorial was created in honor of William "Scott" Phillips of Los Alamos, New Mexico and Los Alamos National Laboratory to allow his friends and colleagues a place to share memories and post messages.
Scott was one of LANL's original researchers in ground-based nuclear explosion monitoring and lead many efforts to broaden the capabilities of the programs. He was a mentor for many of our staff scientists, postdocs and students over his 30+ year career at LANL. He will be greatly missed.
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Tributes
Share a favorite memory, send condolences, and honor William’s life with a heartfelt message.
Rongsong Jih
For thirty some years the interagency would get together to see the research supported by various agencies. Scientists would have better and more opportunities to exchange ideas and explore possible collaborative projects. I have very fond memory of those meetings and those excellent peer scientists I have met - including Scott. Of course, what we chat on the sidewalk to restaurants in Albuquerque was sometimes not limited to seismology. For instance, in the fall of 1998/1999 we talked the Bataan Death March of WWII (that his father had experienced), his study under Kei Aki, and his stay in Japan etc. George Randall was there too... Scott, I miss you…
Holly Phillips
I met Scott in High School. We took a Civics class together our Senior Year, and at our 20 Year High School Reunion reconnected, married, and spent 25 years together, raising our family. We experienced all sorts of adventures from the Sierra Nevada's, to Lake Powell, to Belize and beyond, weathered natural disasters, and together rebuilt our home and lives after the 2000 Cerro Grande fire which took it's toll on us. Scott's sudden passing leaves a big hole in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. He cared deeply about his family, his "girls" in the KICKS '90 soccer team and his community of friends and scientists. Scott lived a full and productive life, albeit too short. His was infinitely proud of his contributions to the scientific community through his work at LANL and never stopped researching and developing new ways to improve his science. I was and always will be very proud to have had him in my life for as long as I did. He was tireless. He was brilliant. He was kind. He was a gift to anyone who knew or had to pleasure to work with him. I recall a party we hosted at our Santa Fe home in the late 1990's. Scott had invited over a number of Japanese scientists he had worked with during a brief time in Japan. They were in town for a meeting. We decided it would be fun to make a traditional New Mexican dinner for the group, which included a brief demonstration about how to make homemade tortillas! They loved it. At the end of the evening, the lead scientist ( I don't remember his name) touched foreheads with our then 1 year old son Geoff who was delighted by this. Forehead touching is called hachi hachi which means “head to head,” symbolizing an intimate communication. That moment made the entire group smile. it was just one of the many happy memories that made our lives full. To all of you who knew Scott well, you know he worked too hard. He had a hard time stopping when he was on a roll, and that made it difficult to find time to take care of himself. As such, I say to all of you, remember to take time for yourself, take time to care for yourself and your health. Take time with your family. That's what is ultimately important. Your job will still be there. Thank you to everyone for the lovely tributes. The degree to which Scott was loved and appreciated is his legacy. His job was well done. We all miss you Scott. You were and will continue to be loved and hold a place in our hearts.
Eric Sandvol
I have very much enjoyed reading about how Scott was such a wonderful mentor to younger scientists. I too was mentor for my entire career by Scott beginning in 1990 when I spent a summer as a GRA at LANL with Scott. I think it is safe to say that Scott mentored scientists for at least 35 years at LANL. I also had a number of adventures with Scott during his time in the field in Pakistan. I remember reminiscing with Scott about how we had spent time very close to where Osama Bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad Pakistan.
Carene Larmat
I will miss Scott greatly and keep very fond memory from my interactions with him. I met Scott when I arrived at LANL and had so many laughs and interesting conversations with him. I still can't believe he is gone.
Eli Baker
I met Scott over 30 years ago when I spent a few months at LANL while I was in grad school. It won’t surprise anyone to hear how welcoming he was. Besides talking science with me, he invited me to join a regular basketball game and tried (patiently, but ultimately unsuccessfully) to turn me into a skate skier. Ever since, while I was in private industry and later at AFRL, I would regularly called Scott to get his take on various scientific questions. I would call to ask about coda and attenuation because he was a leader in those areas and always provided extremely helpful feedback. Sometimes it was to talk about source physics questions, which we often disagreed on (those were the most enjoyable, agreeable disagreements I ever had). My questions were often answered in 5 or 10 minutes, but we would spend the next hour expanding on the topic before veering wildly off topic into anything and everything under the sun. I considered myself lucky that Scott and I often attended the same meetings, and would make a point of going out with him whenever possible as he was always interesting, curious, knowledgeable, and enjoyed good food, but mostly because he was just a really wonderful person. My heart goes out to his family and to those of you who worked with him closely. Despite the infrequency of our interactions, his loss to me is devastating, and I can’t imagine how difficult it is for those closest to him. I hope that Scott realized not just how respected he was as a scientist, but how much so many people cared for him.
Hans Hartse
I thought I should write something “interesting” about Scott, rather than talk about his well documented research enthusiasm and his mentoring. Scott and I were working for the LANL geophysics group in the spring of 1996 when Ted Kaczynski (aka “The Unabomer”) was arrested at Lincoln, Montana. While on a lunch hour walk after this news broke, Scott mentioned he had “probably” met Kaczynski while working one summer in the mid-1970s at a Lake Powell marina. Scott told me employees would often sit around a beach campfire in the evenings, and once an odd, quiet fellow driving an old station wagon pulled up and sat with them. Being Scott, he started up a conversation with this stranger. Scott learned the man had been a math professor at Berkeley, but had quit some years earlier (just like Kaczynski)! Scott had several evening conversations with the man regarding various mathematical subjects. Was this man Kaczynski? Of course no one knew about him at the time, and no bombings occurred until the late 1970s. But after the news of his arrest and history circulated, Scott believed the man he met was indeed the Unabomber. Here is something else about Scott that has not been mentioned. During his first several years at Los Alamos Scott was a competitive cross country ski racer. He was good at ski skating. He told me he would sometimes ski up Aspen Vista road above Santa Fe for evening training sessions when the full moon provided adequate light. He especially enjoyed the downhill run under the moonlight. This winter I will ski Aspen Vista under moonlight and spend some time thinking of Scott. When I start my descent maybe I will feel a sudden breeze as if passed by a faster skier.
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