'Last Lecture' professor passes away

14:30 28th July 2008

A leading computer scientist who's 'Last Lecture' became a viral internet sensation and best selling book has died of cancer aged 47.

Randy Pausch, who taught at Carnegie Mellon University, gave a last lecture to friends and students after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2007 - entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".

This was recorded and placed on YouTube, where it received over ten million viewings, and covered the steps necessary for people to take control over their lives and achieve goals that they set.

Mr Pausch also co-founded Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Centre (ETC), which brought together artists and computer scientists to develop more realistic virtual reality environments.

He was awarded the Karl V Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award by the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) and the ACM's Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.

Time to change your career? Computeach will train you to enter the IT industry.