{"id":190445,"date":"2024-01-22T12:36:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T22:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=190445"},"modified":"2024-01-22T13:25:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T23:25:00","slug":"in-memoriam-john-jefferies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/22\/in-memoriam-john-jefferies\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: UH<\/abbr> astronomy founder John Jefferies"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Telescope
Canada-France-Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Jefferies, the founding director of the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>), died on January 18 at the age of 98. Jefferies steered IfA<\/abbr> to the forefront of scientific achievement and helped pioneer Maunakea astronomy.<\/p>\n

“His legacy will forever illuminate the path for future astronomers,” said Doug Simons, director at IfA<\/abbr>. “We owe a debt of gratitude to this trailblazer who shaped the astronomical landscape in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and beyond. His commitment to advancing our understanding of the cosmos has left an indelible mark on IfA<\/abbr>.”<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> recruited Jefferies to join its newly formed solar program in 1964. The revered astronomer is renowned for his theoretical breakthroughs in solar physics.<\/p>\n

\"Four
Jefferies (second from left) at an IfA<\/abbr> reception in 1971<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“In his scientific work, John Jefferies developed fundamentally new methods to describe the physics, which lead to the formation of spectral lines in the light of stars caused by the chemical elements. This laid the foundation for generations of scientists who study the physical properties of stars in the Milky Way and in galaxies further away,” said Rolf Kudritzki, a former IfA<\/abbr> director who moved to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> from Berlin, drawn by inspiration from a trailblazing textbook written by Jefferies on hot and luminous stars.<\/p>\n

Jefferies would go on to build up a rocket program to study the Sun and establish the IfA<\/abbr>, which today is one of the largest university astronomy programs in the world, with observatories on Maunakea and Maunaloa on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island and Haleakalā on Maui.<\/p>\n

“He had the remarkable vision of developing astronomy in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at a time when the potential of the high mountains sites of Haleakal\u0101 and Maunakea was largely unrecognized,” said Alan Tokunaga, a UH<\/abbr> astronomer emeritus who earned a national designation in 2022 for his contributions to astronomy.<\/p>\n

Maunakea astronomy<\/h2>\n
\"Black
Jefferies (front row center) at the signing ceremony for the tripartite agreement to develop the Canada-France-Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During his 16-year tenure as director, Jefferies oversaw the development of a new generation of telescopes on Maunakea including the UH<\/abbr> 2.2-meter telescope<\/a>, Canada-France-Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Telescope<\/a>, NASA<\/abbr> Infrared Telescope Facility<\/a>, United Kingdom Infrared Telescope<\/a>, two 24-inch UH<\/abbr> telescopes, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory<\/a> and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope<\/a>. This led to Maunakea becoming the prime observatory site in the Northern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Asteroid namesake<\/h2>\n

In 2022, a near-Earth asteroid was officially named in honor of Jefferies<\/a>. First spotted by IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s Pan-STARRS<\/abbr> 1<\/a> telescope atop Haleakalā in October 2011, asteroid (357243) Jefferies = 2002 OQ3<\/abbr>7<\/a> has an orbit about 2.5 times larger than Earth\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For more on Jefferies go to the IfA<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jefferies steered the Institute for Astronomy to the forefront of scientific achievement and helped pioneer Maunakea astronomy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[34,756,35,9],"class_list":["post-190445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-astronomy","tag-in-memoriam","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t