The University of Pretoria (UP) has awarded South African radio astronomer Professor Justin Jonas an honorary doctorate, in honour of his contributions to radio astronomy and associated engineering in the country. The degree was bestowed by UP’s Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering.

Jonas is currently director of the Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies at Rhodes University. (He gained all his degrees at Rhodes.) He was a major force behind the development of the country’s world-leading MeerKAT radio telescope array and the South African contribution to the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope array, currently under construction.

“Under his decades-long stewardship, South Africa became a global leader in engineering for radio astronomy beyond MeerKAT and SKA, making major contributions to such projects as the Event Horizon Telescope, which captured the first images of a black hole in 2019, as well as several other global radio astronomy consortia,” highlighted UP Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology Faculty Dean Professor Wynand Steyn. “Apart from his significant technical contributions to the specific instruments developed under leadership, and the development of the local engineering industry, his efforts in engineering human capital development elevated South African universities to the forefront of radio astronomy and related instrumentation research globally.”

One of the national institutions that has benefitted from Jonas’s work was the UP itself. Through grants and bursaries that he had helped create, the UP Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering is now involved in a number of global radio astronomy consortiums. These include the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope in Chile and the African Millimetre Wave Telescope in Namibia.

“It has been a privilege to work alongside highly skilled scientists, engineers, students and industry partners over many years on projects that have expanded both scientific knowledge and South Africa’s technical capability,” stressed Jonas. “What has always mattered to me is building systems, institutions and opportunities that allow people to contribute meaningfully to work at a global level while rooted in South Africa.”

Outside of radio astronomy, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Jonas served as Technical Advisor to the National Ventilator Project. That project saw the production of 20 000 non-invasive ventilators.

“Here, too, his leadership led to the development of technology for the public good,” pointed out Steyn. “Throughout his career, Professor Jonas has upheld the highest traditions of the engineering profession, applying technology and resources for the good of all mankind on a global scale.”