The Man Who Lived in Three Centuries and Ended One

In 1897, Joseph Thomson discovered electrons that allow us to read these words. That year was also the year Lazare Ponticelli was born. To most people, World War I was the war that defined the 20th century. Lazare was the last soldier who fought that war in the trenches of France and Italy. In an interview, he reminded us of what these soldiers were saying to each other before they would fatefully get out of the trenches and fight in horrible conditions:

"Si j'y passe, tu te rappelleras de moi",

(If I don't make it, you'll remember me)

Lazare passed away last week on March 12th and with him all these remembrances of his comrades.

The same day of his passing, the Cassini probe was taking pictures of the North Polar Region of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn millions miles away. The uncanny resemblance of that moon with the famous illustration of the Little Prince is startling. This week-end, we also finally learned, after 64 years, what was the final fate of his author: Antoine de Saint Exupery. Horst Rippert, now 88, then a Luftwaffe pilot describes with remorse what happened and continues with:

"He could deftly describe the sky, the thoughts and feelings of pilots. His work inspired our vocation for many of us. I liked the man...In our youth, at school, we had all read him. We loved his books....If I had known, I would not have opened fire. Not on him!..."

War is a bitch and then it kills you.

Credit Photo: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Le Figaro/Wikipedia