Memories of, Anecdotes about, and Thoughts on Two Pioneers of the Complement Field —Sir Peter J. Lachmann, 1931–2020 and Robert B. Sim, 1951–2021

Dear Colleagues,

With the passing of two world-famous scientists in the field of complement research in 2020/2021, not only the European complement science community but also the International complement society are experiencing a great loss. Several obituaries are presently being compiled to honor both gold medal winners of the European Complement Network, stressing the seminal scientific achievements both made over the last few decades.

Complement is quite a small scientific field, and despite the fact that in the 1960s to 1980s, a lot of fighting between scientific groups dominated the atmosphere at conferences, the field developed and matured in the following decades, and yearly international meetings alternating between complement workshops and meetings on complement in human diseases took the form of a kind of big family gathering. This, of course, included necessary and “healthy” rivalry, but this was almost always handled fairly and with style. This fostered the change of personnel, and especially Peter and Bob were not only reliable colleagues, but also extremely kind hosts for dozens of scientists and students.

Viruses, a journal in which Sir Peter J. Lachmann served as Guest editor to the end, has kindly agreed to establish a Section where you, as a fellow complementologist or scientist, can present your memories of one or both of our deceased colleagues, mention some funny anecdotes about them or deep thoughts on these two pioneers of the complement field, the main idea being to show the very special human beings behind the successful scientists to keep our memories of them alive.

We hereby kindly ask you to submit your work celebrating not only these two extraordinary colleagues’ scientific achievements, but even more so, or even exclusively, any memories you may have of and/or with them that you would like to share.

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Würzner
Guest Editor

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