Dr. John Archibald Wheeler, contemporary of Bohr, teacher of Feynman and generations of other physicists, died on Sunday.

There is a wonderful tribute to him at Cosmic Variance.

Here is the dedication to his landmark textbook, Gravitation (with Charles Misner and Kip Thorne):

We dedicate this book
To our fellow citizens
Who, for love of truth,
Take from their own wants
By taxes and gifts,
And now and then send forth
One of themselves
As dedicated servant,
To forward the search
Into the mysteries and marvelous simplicities
Of this strange and beautiful Universe,
Our home.