Remembering our friend John Mason

Posted on 27 September 2024 by SkS-Team

We are extremely sad to say that our esteemed Skeptical Science colleague— and good friend to many of us— John Mason passed away on Friday September 20, 2024. Only last week, we blew a horn of appreciation for John’s remarkable gift for telling stories about science. Our expectation was that of John being a constant in our lives. We are truly stunned by John’s unexpected departure. With this post, we want to recount some of John’s many contributions to Skeptical Science, a big part of a legacy which will live on in the minds of old and new readers of John’s work. Also included are personal memories from members of our team who had the pleasure to work and collaborate with John over the years.

John published his very first blog post, The End of the Hothouse, in December 2011 and many more have followed since then. One of his most often viewed articles, the History of Climate Science, started as a 3-part series in 2012. We then collected it into a post directly linked from our homepage. If you browse John’s profile page, you’ll notice that many of his articles tackled the geological past and what it can tell us about current climate change. He wrote long-form and very helpful primers about the slow carbon cycle, the jet stream, and the components of Earth’s climate system to name just a few. In some posts, his witty sense of humor came through. 

John wasn’t one to suffer fools gladly, regardless of who they were (here, here or here). But even in combative verbal repartee, John’s innately gentle nature and kindness improved his ability to communicate through clouds of confusion and misunderstanding.

The project to update our rebuttals wouldn’t have been possible without John and we for sure wouldn’t have seen 75(!) updated rebuttals leave our little rebuttals update factory between February 2023 and July 2024, when we announced a summer break and relaxed publication schedule. John was also instrumental in getting our collaboration with Gigafact launched to publish fact briefs, very condensed rebuttals to common climate myths. Even as he is now no longer with us, John’s writing will live on and will help others better understand and appreciate climate science.

Our memories of John

I‘m still at a loss for words having worked closely with John for many years on Skeptical Science where his in-depth climate science knowledge and writing savvy was what made projects like our rebuttals update factory or our collaboration to create fact briefs with Gigafact possible, enjoyable and successful. Like many others who’ve known him, I‘ll miss him a lot. – Bärbel Winkler

Losing John was a deep shock and our community is less for it. John’s tireless passion for geology and climate communication was inspiring, amazing really. His legacy will live for a long time in all the wonderful content he wrote on Skeptical Science. He will be deeply missed.  –  John Cook

I never got to meet John, but had a number of online interactions with him, and he always was an amazing gentleman! He was actually one of my first inspirations to limit my flying, in support of trying to do my tiny little bit to help the planet. It was my intention to meet John this past March when I was in the UK, but it just never worked out that I could. His amazing depth and breath of scientific knowledge will be greatly missed. – Paul Wigton

In a widespread electronic world, you often don’t get to meet people face-to-face that you interact with on a regular basis. John falls into that category for me, so I only got to know him through his writing – either blog posts, comments at Skeptical Science, emails, etc. John was a classic case of “leading by example” – he considered human-caused climate change to be a serious issue, and wanted to guide and teach people about the science, the risks and the possible solutions. He led a seriously-low-carbon-footprint life, and he brought a tremendous knowledge base into action in his informative blog posts and comments. He put his heart and soul into his work at Skeptical Science, and deserved every bit of the respect that our small community has for him. With his background in geology, he brought an essential and useful long-term perspective to the recent role of humans on global climate. Even though his carbon footprint was small, his passing leaves huge boots to fill. A life well-spent, and someone who will be sorely missed. – Bob Loblaw

I never met John in-person, but worked with him on the rebuttal updates. When I say “worked with him”, I’d normally read his drafts, find very little to criticise, and then say “looks good”. Was a pleasure to work with John and I’ll certainly miss reading his updates to the Skeptical Science rebuttals. – Ken Rice

Heartbroken to hear this. I’ve known John for 14 years through our mutual participation at Skeptical Science. He was a valiant ally and friend, though we never met in person. I will miss him. – Daniel Bailey

When the news of his passing reached me it was a shock. Very unexpectedly and suddenly we had lost someone who has worked on so many things for Skeptical Science. And had a tremendous impact on what we achieved with Skeptical Science. It was a pleasure working with John and knowing him. – Collin Maessen

This was deeply saddening. This remote world had given me the joy of knowing John and working with him on some projects and the occasional correspondence. That same remoteness, however, meant I didn’t see this coming. I thought I’d visit him someday and we’d go rock climbing. Still, the collaborations I’ve had with him are rich and rewarding, and will always be that way. – John Garrett

I was shocked to get this news. John was a “nice guy” in the truest sense of the phrase. His contribution to SkS was monumental. I will miss his presence. – John Hartz

Searching email for johntherock, I see an all-too-brief span of 10 years’ personal company with John. Much of this was reflective of John’s steady (like a rock!) support of Skeptical Science with his powerful brain, but a few interludes especially stand out. In 2016 came a flurry to do with visiting John in his stomping grounds of Aberystwyth, Wales, where we spent a fine day together that included a forest drowned by deglaciation and ended in a lovely sunny pub garden– John enfolded by friends and obviously much loved. In the darker days of 2020, a long sequence centered on John’s book The Making of Ynyslas. Helping John with proofing this work was a special pleasure; John’s long format writing fully revealed his rare gift for conveying facts in a shining tapestry illuminated by powerfully evocative language. A mere decade alongside this fellow was too short. I will miss John forever. – Doug Bostrom

Very saddened and shocked to hear this news. John was a stalwart whose contributions were invaluable to those of us who worked with him. His commitment, his passion for science and storytelling, and his breadth of knowledge helped shape Skeptical Science and enriched our own understanding of what we are facing. He led by example and his legacy will inspire us to carry on the work. He will be greatly missed. – Anne-Marie Blackburn

John was exactly what our world needed—a communicator whose kindness was evident in his dedication to both the planet and its people, for whom he wrote. Getting to work with him for just a few months was a true pleasure, and I learned a great deal from him in our lively collaboration on Gigafact fact briefs. His passing is a deep loss to science and journalism; his memory is one which will always encourage my own dedication to his cause. – Sue Bin Park

To our readers: please use the comments if you’d like to share some of your own memories about John.