Professor Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
Ok, i just watch Oprah this morning and felt really inspired with this guy’s story.
On the left is his picture with his family. (Jai and Randy Pausch, and their children Logan, front left, Dylan and Chloe. Cancer-stricken Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch’s "The Last Lecture" was published Tuesday, April 8, 2008 by Hyperion.)
Here’s the short story from Oprah’s website:
Randy Pausch is a married father of three, a very popular professor at Carnegie Mellon University—and he is dying. He is suffering from pancreatic cancer, which he says has returned after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors say he has only a few months to live.
In September 2007, Randy gave a final lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon that has since been downloaded more than a million times on the Internet. "There’s an academic tradition called the ‘Last Lecture.’ Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?" Randy says. "Well, for me, there’s an elephant in the room. And the elephant in the room, for me, it wasn’t hypothetical."
Watch Randy’s famous "Last Lecture."
Despite the lecture’s wide popularity, Randy says he really only intended his words for his three small children. "I think it’s great that so many people have benefited from this lecture, but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t really even give it to the 400 people at Carnegie Mellon who came. I only wrote this lecture for three people, and when they’re older, they’ll watch it," he says.
Other related article that i found:
His website here and the updates about his condition now here
article about Randy pausch - Google
Keeping Priorities Straight, Even at the End - NY Times
A Lesson on How to Say Goodbye - NY Times
Professor Pausch’s life, ‘Lecture’ go from Web to book - USA Today
‘Last Lecture’ offers inspiration from dying professor Randy Pausch - cleveland.com
There are other videos about his famous last lectures series on the youtube, you just have to type "last lecture" or "randy pausch" to find it. I’ve watched it on Oprah and i think that’s the most inspirational lecture ever. Just watched it and you’ll understand ^_^
