Michael Hart committed his life to making books freely available to the masses.
On September 6, Hart, the founder of “Project Gutenberg”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/08/7_sites_that_will_make_your_college_experience_a_lot_easier, was found “dead”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/09/university_alumnus_ebook_inventor_passes_away_memorial_service_monday in his home in Urbana. He started this project at the University in 1971. Project Gutenberg is a service that has thousands of books available online for public use.
“He was an absolute genius,” said Marsha Woodbury, a lecturer in computer ethics at the University.
Woodbury was a friend of Hart’s who met him on an airplane ride coming back to Illinois from a conference.
“He was so smart, but he didn’t really want everybody to know. He was in Mensa, but most people don’t know that because he never told anybody,” Woodbury said.
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Hart transcribed texts from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the Bible, working countless hours to making these great literary works more easily available.
Today Project Gutenberg offers over 100,000 e-books available for reading.
Those who knew Hart describe him as a “real character.”
“He was unlike anybody I ever met,” Woodbury said.
Gale Davis, a long time neighbor of Hart’s, said Hart would give gifts to people almost impulsively whenever he felt they needed something.
According to Woodbury, Hart was an eccentric personality with a great sense of humor and an opinion on everything.
Davis said that despite his eccentricities, Hart really just loved his work and being left alone with his books and electronics.
According to Davis, every room in Hart’s house was filled with stuff to the point where guests could barely move inside, and the stuff would overflow onto the porch and the yard.
“His car was filled to the brim with stuff so that only the driver’s seat had enough room to sit in,” he said.
Woodbury described Hart as a genius with a thirst for information who wanted to share knowledge with rest of the world.
“Kindle, Amazon, the Nook – they all charge like $8 for a book. Michael didn’t charge a penny. He just wanted people to have access to books,” Davis said.
Students on campus appreciate the service that Project Gutenberg provides.
“I’ve seen a lot of students on campus, especially English majors like myself, using Gutenberg,” said John Quilty, senior in LAS.
E-books allow students to access texts from anywhere they have Internet access. According to Quilty, using Project Gutenberg can help make it easier for students carrying textbooks around campus.
“Some of these English texts can be up to six pounds. If the text is on Gutenberg, I don’t have to lug around 30 pounds of books,” Quilty said.
Davis said Hart is one of the University’s many alumni who have gone on to make a major contribution to society.
“Roger (Ebert) is the famous one, but this guy worked doggedly for his principles and managed to give something truly valuable to people,” Davis said.
