Founding Institute for Astronomy director was a man of vision

Solar physicist John T. Jefferies joined the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa faculty at age 39 in 1964. He was from Australia and had worked at other American universities before arriving in Hawai‘i. Within a year, the young researcher set into motion the beginnings of UH’s Institute for Astronomy, of which he was founding director.

“In the formative years right after statehood, Governor John Burns had a strong wish to open possibilities for the islands, for more than just welcoming visitors,” Jefferies once said. “I recognized from the beginning that Hawai‘i had the potential to be a preeminent international site.”

Research universities in other states submitted proposals to build an observatory on Hawai‘i Island, but NASA accepted Jefferies’s proposal on behalf of UH.

His son Trevor Jefferies, says, “My father saw it as a defining time in his career, creating – from the ground up – a world-class Institute for Astronomy. He always spoke fondly of this time in Hawai‘i, and the work he did there. He felt it was very important.”

His daughter Helen Dearmore says Jefferies was an intelligent man of vision with the persistence to see his vision through to completion. “He inspired others to give their best,” she says, “and he enjoyed challenging and guiding his staff, along with the Institute’s grad and post-grad students, to find strength and inspiration within themselves. He created a climate at the Institute which fostered this growth.”

An indelible mark

Jefferies occasionally took Helen and Trevor, along with their brother Stephen, to the summits at Haleakalā and Maunakea. “The road to the summit was dirt and lava rock, and completely fogged in,” says Trevor.  “I was terrified, but my father was totally calm. He’d been through it so many times and was just fine.”

Helen says, “I was pretty young, but I remember at dawn being outside and there were clouds all the way around below us. It was so cool, and so beautiful.”

Jefferies spent 20 years at UH before moving to Arizona, where he was the first director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories. In 2023, an asteroid discovered by a UH Institute for Astronomy telescope on Haleakalā was named in his honor.

He died on January 18, 2024, at the age of 98.

Doug Simons, director of the Institute for Astronomy, says, “His legacy will forever illuminate the path for future astronomers. We owe a debt of gratitude to this trailblazer who shaped the astronomical landscape in Hawai‘i and beyond. His commitment to advancing our understanding of the cosmos has left an indelible mark on the Institute.”

A treasure trove of history – and financial assistance for students

To honor their father’s distinguished career at the University of Hawai‘i, Trevor and Helen established the John T. Jefferies Endowment, which supports graduate students pursuing PhDs in astronomy or a related field of astrophysics at UH Mānoa, or postdoctoral scholars conducting research at the Institute for Astronomy. These funds will assist with costs associated with attendance (such as tuition, books and fees), field research materials, field work, and other costs directly associated with conducting their research.

The siblings also donated documents, photos, and artifacts from Jefferies’s time at the Institute for Astronomy. “It is a treasure trove of history dating back to the early 60s that captures the start of contemporary astronomy in Hawai‘i,” says Simons, “including early correspondence with Gerard Kuiper, Mitsuo Akiyama of the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce, Governor John Burns, and John Jefferies.”

“It all captures the essence of the story of astronomy today in Hawai‘i,” says Simons. “I already know how the story ended, at least in today’s terms, and fragments of how it began, but this material from Trevor and Helen helps weave it all together.”

Nurtured, encouraged and enabled

Trevor says, “Our father was really an amazing guy. He sat with my kids at Thanksgiving and Christmas and just enthralled them with stories of his childhood, and even in his 80s and 90s could recite for them poetry he learned in grade school.”

His love of poetry bloomed while he was a young child, and his fondness for words — the sound and feel of them — stayed with him through his later years, when he enjoyed writing his memoirs and participating in writing groups. He preserved kumquats in brandy, made exotic stews, prepared Christmas plum puddings three months early each year, and sometimes undercooked the turkey at Thanksgiving, insisting it must be done, because James Beard said it should be. 

Jefferies was also an artist, working with pastels, watercolors and oils, and he enjoyed the symphony, the opera, and traveling the world with his wife. 

Helen says, “He nursed our mother through the initial stages of her Alzheimer’s, and when he could no longer care for her at home, he moved to a senior living community right across the street from her, visiting and tending to her faithfully until the day she died. He was a devoted and loving husband.”

Trevor and Helen hope beneficiaries of this endowment will know John Jefferies as a visionary, a leader who created a culture where scientists could be nurtured, encouraged and enabled to follow their interests. He was a hard worker who trusted his instincts, and was willing to take a risk where he’d done the research and preparation. “If it was a high probability risk,” says Trevor, “he would go for it. He did it with his proposal to NASA, and he encouraged it in others. I hope these grads and postdocs will do so as well – he would be pleased for them to do that.”

Trevor, Helen, and the Institute for Astronomy invite friends, admirers, colleagues, and former students to enhance the John Jefferies legacy at the University of Hawai‘i. A gift for the endowment bearing his name in support of the institute he founded will advance research and scientific careers into the distant future.