Edward B. Jenkins (1939-2024)

Edward B. Jenkins, leading authority on UV spectroscopy who made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the multiphase interstellar medium, died at home in Princeton, N.J., on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. He was 85.

“Ed’s enjoyment from everything he did was palatable and beautiful,” said Neta Bahcall, a longtime friend and colleague at Princeton University. “[His] legacy and contributions to science will shine forever.”

Born in San Francisco in 1939, Ed received his bachelor's degree with honors in physics from the University of California, Davis in 1962, then earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell in 1966. He joined Princeton’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences as a Research Associate and rose to the rank of Senior Research Astronomer. 

With the exception of summer teaching appointments and a guest professorship in 1992 at the European Space Observatory as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, Ed spent his entire career at Princeton University, formally retiring in March 2023. He remained active in astronomy until his passing. 

Throughout his career, a primary focus of Ed’s research was on ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopic observations. He was hired in Princeton originally to work on sounding rocket instrumentation and data analysis of UV spectra from bright stars, and then he spent more than a decade on research with the Copernicus satellite, during which time he was the director of the data reduction team. Later, Ed’s research made use of the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, as well as many ground-based telescopes, and he worked on instrument and facility design for the Starlab project. ‬For two decades beginning in 1980, Ed was heavily involved in the NASA-sponsored Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph

Ed was known in the international community as one of the foremost experts on the analysis of UV absorption line spectra from stars, which he used to obtain important quantitative measures of the physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM), including chemical abundances, the ionization and thermal state of the gas in the ISM, and fractional depletions of different elements on grains. 

In 1974, Ed’s observations of broad, shallow absorption lines of OVI with Copernicus provided important early evidence regarding the pervasive presence of hot gas in the ISM, posited to be produced by supernova explosions. In 1975, Ed and Lyman Spitzer, Jr., authored a major review of results from Copernicus. Collaborating with Todd Tripp (then a Princeton postdoc and now a professor at the University of Massachusetts) and employing the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, Ed used fine-structure observations of neutral carbon to obtain key constraints on the distribution of pressure in the cold ISM. With collaborators including Princeton’s David Bowen, Ed also used HST for studies of the intergalactic medium via UV absorption of quasars. 

“Ed was indeed an excellent scientist and a superb authority on observations of the ISM,” said Jeremy Goodman, a professor of astrophysical sciences. “He was very accurate, painstaking, and reliable, never claiming more than he knew — and he knew a lot… Furthermore, Ed was a kind soul and a complete gentleman.” 

Over his distinguished career, Ed held many roles in the professional astronomy community, including acting as vice president of the American Astronomical Society from 1997 to 1999, and contributing his expertise on review and visiting committees for NASA facilities, programs, and allocation committees. 

In his free time, Ed enjoyed piloting a small plane, of which he shared ownership with Jeremy Goodman. Neta Bahcall, Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy, recalled a flight she took as his passenger to the AAS meeting in North Carolina, years ago. “Ed was an avid pilot, and invited me to join him on his flight. After a brief hesitation, I joined him — and I will always remember this wonderful flight. Ed’s enthusiasm for flying his plane, his knowledge and clear explanation about the plane and its operation, his attention to details, and the discussions we had during the flight about science, the AAS, and more were exciting and memorable.” 

Ed is survived by his wife, Myrna Jenkins; two sons, Brian and Eric; and two grandchildren.

Adapted and reproduced with permission from hyperlink reference