Sir Anthony James Leggett passed away on 8 March 2026. It felt like a personal loss to me.
I don't know when was the first time I came across Prof. Leggett. I am certain that I knew the name from my master's studies but started reading up on his work during my academic exile. During those years, I was consuming physics rather aimlessly after deciding to part ways with theoretical particle physics. At some point, I encountered his work on quantum mechanics at macroscopic scale. I found it fascinating. I started working through this paper, "Quantum tunnelling in a dissipative system."
In 2019, I was going through a very dark period in my life. I reached out to him for advice in August of that year. He wrote back with a detailed and thoughtful response. His words restored my confidence, and his kindness meant a great deal to me. I will always be grateful for that. I still follow his advice.
One thing he wrote to me was:
"First, I do not think that your apparently not very stellar grades in your course work to date should depress you unduly; perfect grades on examinations which basically test one's knowledge of standard textbook material are in my view not very indicative of future success as a researcher, it is much more important that you know how to ask your own questions."
After starting my PhD at the Technion in November 2024, I wrote to him again in December. He replied once more, wishing me success in my studies.
I took the course "Introduction to Systems with Macro Quantum Properties" in the winter semester of 2025. In the course presentation, I presented his foundational work on the subject — work I had first read during my exile years, back when I had no clear direction. Revisiting it then felt like witnessing a long arc slowly coming full circle.
