It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely death of Aldo Fasolo, eminent neuroscientist and member of the ESOF2010 and ESOF2012 programme committees. Many of you will remember him running to and fro, tireless and cheerful, in the halls of the Lingotto building in Torino during ESOF2010. He definitely was one of its driving forces.

Aldo passed away on 27 November 2014, in Trento. He had just given a brilliant and entertaining lecture on the topic of food, science, society and culture. It was typical of his way of doing science and science communication. He loved mixing fields and different points of view. And he used his sense of humour and irony as tools to engage both with the public and with students as well as colleagues.

Aldo Fasolo was born in Alba, near Torino, in 1943. During his long and productive career, he focused on many diverse aspects of the neurosciences. These included comparative neuroanatomy, comparative studies on the biology of neuropeptides and neurochemistry of the brain, cellular and molecular biology of the olfactory system and lastly on stem cells and neurogenesis of the adult nervous system.

He published more than 250 research papers and around 300 conference papers. He authored and curated several books, including his most recent, The Theory of Evolution and its Impact, published in 2012. He taught for many years at the University of Torino, where he mentored generations of scholars, and had just been nominated professor Emeritus.

Aldo also held many prestigious administrative positions. He was the director of the natural and physical science section of the Torino Academy of Sciences, president of the research commission of the University of Torino, president of the scientific committee of the Torino Museum of Natural Sciences, member of the Accademia dei Lincei, member of the executive committee and of the board of directors of Compagnia di San Paolo.

He was also noted for his tireless commitment to science communication. He wrote hundreds of popular science pieces. And he was the former President of Associazione CentroScienza, which together with the private foundation Compagnia di San Paolo and the science communication forum, Agorà Scienza, organised ESOF2010 in Torino. He was instrumental in bringing this great event to his city.

He will be deeply missed, even if his presence will surface in all of us—colleagues, collaborators and students—working on the many issues that he has helped to unravel and develop.

Thank you for everything, Aldo.

Enrico Predazzi (ESOF 2010 champion)

Pino Zappalà (ESOF 2010 team director)

Luigi Civalleri (ESOF 2010 head scientific coordinator)