who do n't want it badly enough . They 're there to stop the other people . '' Watch what Pausch did for his wife '' Starting with a joke about `` a deathbed conversion '' -- `` I just bought a Macintosh '' computer -- the educator went on to say that one of his childhood dreams was to write an entry in the World Book Encyclopedia . `` I guess you can tell the nerds early , '' he added . An expert in virtual reality , Pausch did go on to write an encyclopedia entry on the subject . He discussed his fondness for winning stuffed animals at fairs , showed a slide of them , then -- pretending to be concerned his audience would think the image had been digitally manipulated -- produced them onstage . Donning silly costume items like a vest with arrows sticking out of it and a Mad Hatter 's hat , he described working with students as a way to help other people achieve their dreams . He also played down his own importance , saying that after he got a Ph.D. , his mother took to introducing him as ``
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Randy Pausch , the professor whose `` last lecture '' became a runaway phenomenon on the Internet and was turned into a best-selling book , died Friday of pancreatic cancer , Carnegie Mellon University announced on its Web site . Randy Pausch emphasized the joy of life in his `` last lecture , '' originally given in September 2007 . Pausch , 47 , a computer science professor , delivered the lecture , `` Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams , '' at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 , a month after being told he had three to six months to live because his cancer had returned . The lanky , energetic Pausch talked about goals he had accomplished , like experiencing zero gravity and creating Disney attractions , and those he had not , including becoming a professional football player . He used rejections he was handed when he applied for jobs at Disney to comment on the importance of persistence . `` The brick walls are there for a reason ... to show us how badly we want something , '' he said . `` Because the brick walls are there to stop the people