It is with great sadness that the Department of Astrophysical Sciences shares the news that Edward B. Jenkins, senior scholar and longstanding member of the department, passed away on July 9, at the age of 85. 

“Ed’s enjoyment from everything he did was palatable and beautiful,” said Neta Bahcall, a longtime friend and colleague. “[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 promptly 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 career at Princeton University. When he retired in March 2023, the university granted him emeritus status, giving him the title of “Senior Research Astronomer, Emeritus.” He remained active in astronomy research and as a member of our community 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 (‬IMAPS‭) project as Principal Investigator. ‬This instrument flew on sounding rockets and also operated on two ORFEUS-SPAS missions launched into orbit by the Space Shuttle‭.‬

Ed was known in the international community as one of the foremost experts on 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 quintuply ionized oxygen (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 2016, Ed celebrated his 50th anniversary at Princeton – as did Peyton Hall, longtime home to the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. For the occasion, Ed gave a talk discussing his experiences during his and Peyton’s first ten years. The full presentation, highlighting the faculty, research, and departmental traditions, can be found here.

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.