Frederick Christian Thompson (1944–2021) – Dipterist and Commissioner
It is our sad duty to announce the passing of retired Commissioner Frederick Christian Thompson on 4 February 2021, a specialist on Diptera. Chris was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. from 1974 to his retirement in 2008. During those years he was an early advocate for computerization of collections, literature and names, and his major legacy to that end is the current Systema Dipterorum online database of more than 200,000 fly names he almost singlehandedly built and maintained. Chris had a long history of interest in nomenclature, most likely inspired by having Commissioner Curtis W. Sabrosky, a close colleague, in a neighbouring office for many years. After Curt left the ICZN, Chris came on board and served as Commissioner from 1985 to 1995 but continued until 1998 in helping edit the Fourth Edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Chris was involved in various ways in the preparatory discussions leading to the establishment of the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) in 1996 and Species 2000, and he was part of the group behind the crafting of ZooBank. Over the years Chris amassed a large personal library dealing with Diptera and donated several of the rarer books to the Smithsonian Library to have them digitized for BHL.
Hirokuni Noda (1960–2020) – Tardigrade specialist and Code translator
We regret to announce the passing of Mr Hirokuni Noda, who was one of the two main translators (listed as “Editors for the Japanese Text”) of the Japanese-language edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Fourth Edition), authorized by the Commission under Article 87. The Japanese edition was issued in 2000 by the Union of the Japanese Societies for Systematic Biology. Mr Noda was a specialist of tardigrades but was also interested in various marine invertebrates. He was an assistant professor of Tokyo Women's Medical University until his death. He was also active in development of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology. An obituary by Dr Teruaki Nishikawa, a co-translator of the Japanese-language edition of the Code and a former International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature (ITZN) Trustee, has been published in the journal Taxa and is available at: https://doi.org/10.19004/taxa.49.0_1.
