Chattanooga News-Free Press photo (circa 1967) of UTC student Hal McAlister and Dr. Karel Hujer working in the Clarence T. Jones Observatory.
A new lecture series at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will honor one of the most influential figures in the city’s astronomy history while bringing a distinguished alumnus back to the observatory where his career began.
The inaugural Karel Hujer Memorial Lecture, co-hosted by UTC’s Clarence T. Jones Observatory and the Barnard Astronomical Society, will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 10, in Grote Hall Room 129. The event is free and open to the public.
The event coincides with the 90th anniversary of the Clarence T. Jones Observatory, one of Chattanooga’s longest-running educational attractions.
Chattanooga native Dr. Harold A. “Hal” McAlister, Regents Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Georgia State University, founder of the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy and a 1971 UTC physics alumnus, will present a lecture titled “Karel Hujer: Chattanooga’s Astronomer and Citizen of the World.”
Parking for the Grote Hall lecture is available in the adjacent Lupton Hall parking garage (700 Vine St.) and is free beginning at 5 p.m.
In addition to the lecture, a public open house at the observatory will take place from 7–10 p.m. on Saturday, April 11. The event will give visitors an opportunity to meet McAlister and explore the observatory.
The Clarence T. Jones Observatory is located at 10 Tuxedo Ave., about 4.5 miles east of the UTC campus in the Brainerd area. Visitors are encouraged to park in the upper lot behind Brainerd United Methodist Church for easier access to the facility.
Admission to both events is free. Space at the Saturday open house is limited and advance registration is requested.
“We have been looking to honor Karel Hujer, a big figure in local astronomy and a longtime faculty member here,” said Observatory Director Steven Kline, an astronomy lecturer in UTC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. “He was also a very notable international figure.”
The lecture series is being organized in partnership with the Barnard Astronomical Society, which has supported the observatory since its inception.
“The observatory has been taking on some really positive legs lately—not just the building itself, but the use of the space,” said Kevin Hon, president of the Barnard Astronomical Society. “We have been looking for additional ways to strengthen the relationship between the University and the Barnard Astronomical Society. The new lecture series offers an opportunity to highlight Karel Hujer’s legacy while reconnecting the community with the observatory.
“Hujer is this figure who has been recognized but not necessarily highlighted as much as he could be. We feel like he is the perfect person to honor because he was here for almost 30 years.”
Hal McAlister
For the inaugural lecture, Kline and Hon invited a speaker whose own career was shaped by Hujer’s mentorship.
McAlister grew up just a few blocks from the observatory in Chattanooga’s Brainerd neighborhood. As a child, he visited the observatory during a class session led by Hujer, an experience that helped set the course for his future in astronomy.
“Hujer had an influence on so many students at the time, and Hal happened to be one of those students who went on to become a very prominent astronomer,” Hon said.
McAlister earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from UTC before completing graduate studies in astronomy at the University of Virginia. At Georgia State University, he founded the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy in 1983 and led the development of the CHARA Array at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, which produces some of the highest-resolution images obtained of stellar surfaces.
For Kline, the new lecture series is both a tribute to an influential educator and an effort to reconnect the public with a historic campus resource.
“It’s a cool piece of Chattanooga history,” Kline said. “He’s a cool figure from Chattanooga history that most people don’t know about. If we can fix that, that’s even better.”
Historic astronomical images and displays line the walls inside UTC’s Clarence T. Jones Observatory. Photo by Clara Paulson.
For generations of Chattanooga residents, the Clarence T. Jones Observatory has served as a gateway to the night sky.
Built in 1936, the observatory has hosted thousands of public observing sessions, school visits and community events.
The Barnard Astronomical Society has been closely connected to the facility since its inception, helping maintain the observatory and support its public programs.
In recent years, University faculty and local astronomy enthusiasts have worked to expand public engagement at the observatory through star parties during the academic year, educational programming and community partnerships.
Launching the Karel Hujer Memorial Lecture Series is part of that broader effort.
“One of the reasons for calling it the Karel Hujer Memorial Lecture was history,” Kline said. “There were talks back in the 1990s of building a new planetarium in honor of Karel Hujer. This is kind of a nod to that movement.”
Hujer (1902-1988) first came to Chattanooga in 1946 to teach astronomy and physics at the University of Chattanooga, including overseeing the Clarence T. Jones Observatory. He held that role until his retirement as a Guerry Professor in 1973.
He was best known for his work with students and the public at the observatory, where he hosted countless Friday night observing sessions and introduced generations of visitors to astronomy.
Among those visitors was a young McAlister, who spent many evenings at the observatory during the 1960s and later worked for Hujer as a student assistant at UTC. That mentorship helped guide him toward a career that would eventually include leading one of the world’s most advanced optical interferometry programs.
Now retired, McAlister has increasingly focused on writing and historical research while remaining active in the astronomy community.
Hon said McAlister’s return to the UTC campus to deliver the inaugural Hujer lecture offers a full-circle moment for both the astronomer and the observatory that first sparked his interest in the field.
“We really want this to be an annual event that reintroduces the public to the observatory,” Hon said. “This lecture series is one of the ways we’re trying to do that.”
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