Today I was saddened by learning of the death of astronomer professor Kees de Jager. He was 100 years old, and he has lived a long, good and healthy life, but still is it really sad to know he isn't here any more.
For almost seven years already, my SO and I have been working on a film about ANS, the first Dutch satellite. The faculty of Astronomy of the University of Utrecht, where De Jager was working, designed one of the instruments aboard the ANS. So he was one of the people we really wanted to have in the film. In spring 2016 I interviewed him on the island of Texel, where he lived. Just a couple of weeks before the interview would be held, his wife passed away and we had to postpone everything. Luckily, he soon mailed us and said the interview would be a welcome thing to take his mind off of things. So we arranged for our crew to set sail to Texel.
We went to Texel on a very sunny day. I had a very nice conversation with him about ANS, the development and the instruments on board, Kees told a couple of very amusing anecdotes and used layman's terms to explain all the different types of discoveries ANS made in space. He showed us around in the small observatory on the island which was named in honour of him.
However, things went off track for the film when the broadcaster pulled out of the project and with it, we lost our fundings. We had to start over again. But we already had these interviews. Jump forward to 2019, the film finally was well on its way and fully funded. We could finally start filming the rest of the things we needed, when everything suddenly grounded to a halt again, when COVID-19 hit the earth and we couldn't do anything for quite some time. Were it not for that, Kees would have seen the film finished and all. I really really hoped he would have been there at the première and I could shake his hand one more time. As I have experienced him, he was a very likeable man. Very approachable, amiable even. Happy to tell you about what he knows. I was really glad I had the chance to meet him.
Usually reserved for pilots and spacemen, but very appropriate for astronomers too:
Clear Skies, Kees. Thank you for your time and inspiring presence. You belong to the discoverers of the universe.
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| Kees de Jager in 2016 during the interview at his home on Texel. © 2021 De Loods mediaproducties / Stichting Beeldlijn |
