When York University natural science Professor Richard Jarrell died suddenly in 2013, he left behind an unfinished manuscript and a box of tapes – a chronicle of how Canada found its place in the world of radio astronomy, the study of using massive antennas to tune in to the universe’s faintest signals.
For years, the story remained incomplete, its pages gathering dust.
That changed only recently, when astronomer Elizabeth Griffin took on the task of finishing what Jarrell had started. “Richard had a vision for telling the story of Canadian radio astronomy. He’d done the interviews, gathered the research, but the narrative was still waiting to be shaped,” says Griffin, who is internationally recognized for her research on binary stars and her efforts to preserve historic astronomical data.
With support from his wife, Martha Jarrell, and colleagues from across Canada’s astronomical community, Griffin pieced together the book Richard never got to finish. The result, Radio Astronomy in Canada: Young Science in a Young Country (Springer Nature, December 2024), documents how Canadian radio astronomy grew from one physicist’s research into a field of international prominence – grounded in Richard's meticulous research and first-hand accounts from pioneers in the field.
Martha Jarrell, who has acted as steward of her husband’s archival legacy, says his passion for science was inseparable from his daily life. She describes how, as a child, Richard devoured astronomy magazines in German, wrote and sold his own astronomy book door-to-door, and painted constellations in phosphorescent paint on his bedroom ceiling.
Later in life, he brought home telescopes from York University – where he was a professor in the Faculty of Science – to share the night sky with his sons, built model Apollo capsules for them to play in and turned family hikes into lessons in botany and geology. “During road trips and other outings, he explained the geological origins of road cuts and bodies of water,” she says. “He gave talks to schools, Scouts, environmental groups and other public groups.”
His passion for history was just as present. Museum visits, cemetery explorations and family history research became shared adventures. Born in 1946, Richard traced his family roots in the neighbouring northeastern Ontario communities of Cobalt and Haileybury, where his great-grandmother died in the Great Fire of 1922. Inspired by stories from his own father, who served in the Second World War, he helped his elder son build a model of the USS South Dakota, a celebrated American battleship. Alongside these family pursuits, Richard was also active in his community, volunteering on local committees in Markham and supporting efforts to preserve local history and promote Canadian science.
At York, Richard's influence was wide-ranging. He designed and taught courses that bridged astronomy, science, technology and society. He co-founded the Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association, edited its journal and played a key role in building the field of Canadian science history. His publication record – two monographs, eight edited volumes, more than 80 chapters and articles – was matched by his commitment to teaching and mentoring. “He worked with York faculty to turn the Science and Technology Studies Division into a department, the only undergraduate degree-granting program in Canada,” Martha says.
Richard's dedication to building Canadian science was evident in every aspect of his career, and it was this same dedication that guided the work left unfinished at his death. While completing Radio Astronomy in Canada without Richard's direct input was admittedly a challenge for Griffin, she credits the extensive interviews and research he left behind for helping bridge the gap between the perspective of research scientists and his broader, contextual approach to science history. The resulting book, Griffin observes, “shows how Canada’s proficiency developed from a one-man experiment to leadership in international projects – a story of growth, expertise and still more growth.”
Martha believes her late husband would be proud. “Based on his lifelong fascination with astronomy and being a champion of the importance of documenting its discoveries, he wanted people to learn about the wonder of the cosmos through the work of this lesser-known, younger sibling of optical astronomy.
"He’d feel grateful that his determination to educate Canadians about this country’s radio astronomical work had come to fruition.”