From Mauricio Suarez
I’ve been trying, and failing, to remember when I met Katherine Hawley first. Probably at some HPS seminar in Cambridge in the early 1990s. Mark Hogarth must have been there. I do recall when I got to know her well, though. In August 1995, she invited two of us doctoral students to share a large rented apartment in Florence during the LMPS conference. There were many discussions over chianti and cappuccinos. And walks around the medici. She would wear this large sunhat – her skin was fair – and stand out tall in the crowd. Afterwards I always thought of her as the archetype of an independent British woman stepped into Italy.
The last time I saw her, in a large crowd in London, we said nothing but gave each other a big smile. Katherine was witty but also good at communicating without words. When I left Bristol, many years ago, she was the one person I had to explain nothing to; she immediately and fully understood. Others have commented on her modesty as a philosopher; and she was immensely gifted. I was often struck by how plausible everything she said was – even ahead of argument. There was not a bit of show off or artificiality, and she would never choose a view for effect. I think that spirit led her to work on trustworthiness, a quality she had buckets of. I miss her horribly. It is a much lessened world today.