Courtesy of New Mexicans for Science and Reason

Timothy Moy

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The subject might have been Galileo Galilei, the atomic bomb or evolution versus creationism. Timothy Moy spent his career immersed in the scientific controversies of the day - whether that day was today or 400 years ago.

His talent, colleagues and former students said, was his ability to weave the strands of time together.

"He could reach back and grab all these facts and figures and anecdotes and use them to tell a story," said Kim Johnson, a physicist and friend. "In his quiet way, he was very passionate."

Moy, a University of New Mexico professor who specialized in the history of science and technology, drowned Sunday in Hawaii, caught in a current that had taken hold of his 12-year-old son.

His son, Luke, was rescued by another swimmer and was in serious condition Monday at a Honolulu hospital, authorities said. Moy was also brought back to shore, but paramedics were unable to revive him, authorities said.

Moy leaves his son and wife, Rebecca Ulrich. He was 44.

Plans for a memorial service have not been finalized.

"Tim is remembered as a remarkable professor," UNM President David Schmidly said. "Now we can also remember him for his selfless courage in saving his son."

Since coming to UNM in 1993, Moy had been active in organizations promoting science education and scientific literacy.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he wrote an article promoting scientific knowledge as an antidote to the sort of misguided fear that led some people to microwave their mail in hopes of thwarting anthrax attacks.

It was hardly his only foray into the charged nexus of science and public policy.

During the late 1990s, Moy helped lead a successful push to restore evolution to school curriculums in New Mexico. He'd continued fighting efforts to add creationism to that curriculum, said Dave Thomas, president of the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education, of which Moy was a past president.

Moy also appeared on Thomas' radio show several times, chronicling sagas like Galileo and the church or the formation of the theory of evolution.

"He talked about how, beyond the scientific side of things, the theory of evolution is an amazing human drama loaded with sex, intrigue and death," Thomas said.

Moy's work ranged as widely as his thinking. Besides the coalition, Moy was active with New Mexicans for Science and Reason and was a member of the Advance Concepts Group at Sandia National Laboratories, which focuses on emerging national security threats.

One of Moy's classes last semester focused on the story behind the first atomic bomb, built in Los Alamos.

"He was really interesting to listen to," said Stephanie Chu, a UNM senior who took the class. "Some history professors aren't entirely interesting all the time, but with him it was like listening to a story."

Johnson said Moy had spent the last few months talking to people on both sides of the evolution/creationism debate. Moy wanted to know what was motivating the creationism movement, Johnson said.

"He could talk to anybody," Johnson said. "I was really looking forward to seeing what he'd found out, but I guess now I won't know."