Friends halt search for missing scientist
The search for Jim Gray, a renowned Bay Area scientist missing at sea since late last month, was called off Friday.
Friends of Jim, a group formed to look for the computer science pioneer, announced on a website that it was suspending its search for him.
Gray set sail from San Francisco on Jan. 28 aboard his 40-foot sailboat, Tenacious, to scatter his mother’s ashes in the ocean. He planned to return that day.
The U.S. Coast Guard searched extensively but found no trace of Gray or his boat and called off its search Feb. 2.
Gray’s friends continued the search until Friday. The website announcement called the private search for Gray “thorough,” involving boats, planes and satellite imagery, as well as data on wind and currents.
“We do not believe that Tenacious could have outsailed our search,” the announcement read. “We have covered an enormous area.”
The group said it would resume the search should any evidence of Gray turn up.
Gray is a legend in the world of computer science. He was the first to receive a doctorate in the discipline at UC Berkeley, and he went on to work at IBM, Tandem Computers and DEC.
He was a founder of Microsoft’s Bay Area Research Center.
His research focused on using computers to make scientists more productive. His work paved the way for automatic teller machines, among other things.
At the time of his disappearance, friends said, he was working on a project allowing home computer users to explore space.
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