For NOVA, he developed the education program for primary and secondary schools. His largest project, the NOVA Mobile Planetarium, developed into a highly successful astronomical outreach program in the Netherlands and abroad. Jaap introduced the ‘live & interactive’ style of public engagement which was innovative at the time. The program has taken more than half a million Dutch schoolchildren on an interactive journey through the universe.
Jaap also used his years of experience as an astronomy amateur for public events and developing educational materials that are still used today. In the field of formal education, he led a project that introduced New Physics into the secondary school curriculum, supervising the development of chapters on modern astronomy, covering topics such as black holes and exoplanets.
After his retirement in 2020, Jaap started a spin-off of the NOVA Planetarium project at the Lynch Plantation on St. Eustatius, which was also a success. Last year Jaap secured grants to replace this planetarium with a larger dome in a permanent enclosure. The housing was ready, but the dome had not yet been installed when he was hospitalized in Aruba in mid-April. After four weeks in intensive care, Jaap passed away on May 14. Planetarium expert and good friend Robin Sip will complete the planetarium project on Statia in Jaap's spirit.
Earlier this year, Jaap and Rianne became the grandparents of a grandson. Our thoughts go out to Rianne, his daughter and his son-in-law.
On behalf of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA),
Carsten Dominik
Marieke Baan