[scikit-learn] Remembering Raghav, our friend, and a scikit-learn contributor

[Gael Varoquaux]

Raghav was a core contributor to scikit-learn. Venkat Raghav Rajagopalan, or @raghavrv  -as we knew him- appeared out of the blue and started contributing early 2015. From Chennai, he was helping us make scikit-learn a better library. As often in open source, he was working with people that he had never met in person, to improve a tool used by the whole world. He successfully completed a Google summer of code for the project that year, and then was hired as a full time engineer to work on the project in Paris. Raghav was excited to join the scikit-learn team. When he became core contributor, in 2016 he said that it was a highlight of his year.

In Paris, we got to know him and enjoy him. Raghav was a very enthusiastic and easygoing person. It was a delight to have him around. For scikit-learn, he was a huge driver. He tackled a large number of issues, include tedious and difficult ones such as revamping our cross-validation API, multiple-metrics support in grid-search, or 32bit support in various models.

Raghav had left India to live an adventure in a new culture. Curiosity and goal-driven, he had found his own way. He was growing fast, moving from student to expert, on his way to a bright future.

Raghav passed away a month ago. We have been in shock and sorrow here in Paris. He will be deeply missed.

Gael Varoquaux and Alexandre Gramfort