Professor Justin Jonas, a pioneer of the MeerKAT telescope and key figure in the world’s largest radio astronomy network, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria.
Pretoria, South Africa (18 May 2026) – Over four decades, Professor Justin Jonas has made significant strides in shaping South Africa’s place in global radio astronomy and engineering.
He’s the mind behind the development of the Meerkat Radio Telescope, and has played a key role in the Square Kilometre Array, the world’s largest radio astronomy network ever built! Data from antennas positioned in South Africa add to that of thousands worldwide, working together to detect extremely faint radio signals from the earliest galaxies.
Professor Jonas has also nurtured the next generation of engineers and scientists in the radio astronomy space. He has helped establish key grants and research bursaries in the field, and has held several academic, scientific and leadership roles.
In May, the University of Pretoria’s Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering awarded him his honorary doctorate.
“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,” said Professor Wynand Steyn, Dean of UP’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT).
Prof Jonas was Chief Technologist of MeerKAT, where he helped shape what the telescope was built to study, how it was designed, and how it was brought to life. Under his leadership, South Africa grew into a major player in global radio astronomy, and the MeerKAT team was awarded the 2023 Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award.
“Apart from his significant technical contributions to the specific instruments developed under his 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,” Prof Steyn said. “Through the grants and bursaries programmes he helped establish, our own Department is now contributing to several global radio astronomy consortia, including the African Millimetre wave telescope and the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope.”
Prof Jonas is currently Director of the Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT) at Rhodes University, where he also completed all his degrees, finishing with a PhD in Radio Astronomy in 1999.
His career has been rooted at Rhodes University’s Department of Physics and Electronics, where he worked his way up from technical and research roles to Professor and Head of Department. Alongside this, he has held a number of senior positions in South Africa’s radio astronomy programme, including Managing Director of HartRAO, Associate Director for Science and Engineering at the SKA South Africa Project Office, Chief Technologist for SKA South Africa, and Director of RATT.
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Beyond astronomy, Prof Jonas also contributed to South Africa’s COVID-19 response. He served as Technical Advisor to the National Ventilator Project, a government initiative to produce 20,000 non-invasive ventilators during the pandemic.
“Here, too, his leadership led to the development of technology for the public good. Throughout his career, Prof Jonas has upheld the highest traditions of the engineering profession, applying technology and resources for the good of all mankind on a global scale.”
In receiving his honorary doctorate, Prof Jonas highlighted the importance of collaboration in moving South Africa forward in large-scale science and engineering.
“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. 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.”
Prof Jonas is one of the more than 13,221 students graduating during UP’s Autumn Graduation season this May.
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