Johanna Beyer was born on 16 October 1981 in Vienna, Austria, and passed away far too early on 6 December 2024 in Boston, USA. She is survived by her husband, parents, and brother.
She studied Medical Software Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, earning her Dipl.-Ing. (FH) degree in 2004. Johanna’s scientific journey continued at TU Wien, where she completed her PhD in Computer Science in 2009 with the dissertation “GPU-based Multi-Volume Rendering of Complex Data in Neuroscience and Neurosurgery.” During these years she worked at VRVis in Vienna, first as a junior researcher and later as a researcher, developing expertise that would define much of her later career. She first joined Harvard University in 2009 as a visiting research fellow, an experience that led to an ongoing relationship with the institution.
After completing her doctorate, Johanna continued her international career with a postdoctoral fellowship at KAUST in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2013. She then moved to Harvard University, first as a postdoctoral fellow (2013–2016), then as a Research Associate (2016–2022), and finally as a Research Scientist (2022–2024) in the Visual Computing Group. At Harvard she concentrated in high-throughput, large-scale data visualization research—especially for neuroscience and connectomics.
Johanna was a dedicated and widely respected scientist whose work contributed significantly to scalable visualization, immersive analytics, and the bridging of scientific and information visualization. She published extensively, participated in major research projects, and contributed to several patents. Her efforts were acknowledged through a number of awards over the years, including recognitions at IEEE SciVis, IEEE VIS, ACM CHI, and InfoVis, as well as the Best Application Paper Award at IEEE VIS 2007. Johanna was also invited to share her expertise at respected venues such as VCBM, Dagstuhl, KAUST, MIT, and Argonne National Laboratory.
Johanna was also deeply committed to teaching. At Harvard she contributed to several courses in visualization and data science and was recognized with Certificates of Teaching Excellence and Distinction. In her roles as lecturer and teaching fellow, she supported many undergraduate and graduate students, both on campus and online.
Johanna also lived an active and joyful life beyond academia. She was a dedicated rower, earning silver medals at the 2018 and 2019 World Para-Rowing Championships and winning gold at the 2022 Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. In recognition of her athletic achievements, she was awarded the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich in June 2024. She enjoyed sailing, biking, snorkeling, scouting, Japanese games, and anime.
To colleagues and friends, Johanna was known for her calm and thoughtful manner, as well as for the steady dedication she brought to her work. Many appreciated her reliability, her considerate nature, and the supportive atmosphere she helped create in collaborative settings. Johanna’s absence will be felt by her family, her colleagues, her students, and the many friends she made throughout her life and career. We extend our sincere condolences to all who were close to her.
“Whom the gods love, they call early.”