The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is saddened to hear of the death of Professor Ralph A.M.J. Wijers, who was a member of the Editorial Board of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
Professor Wijers passed away at the age of 62 on Tuesday 21 July 2026.
MNRAS Editor-in-Chief Professor David Flower said: "Ralph had the interests of the journal firmly at heart. He was a perceptive and outspoken contributor to our Board meetings, and he will be sorely missed."
An internationally respected astronomer and inspiring lecturer, Professor Wijers joined the MNRAS board 20 years ago.
He was an expert in multi-wavelength emission from extreme explosions, with a focus on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and new unknown radio transients. In 2002 Professor Wijers was part of an international team awarded the European Union’s Descartes Prize for work on GRBs.
He contributed to many scientific publications on all types of GRBs – publishing over 550 scientific articles and supervising more than 30 PhD students and 20 postdocs.
Professor Wijers was also a co-investigator of various large instrument projects, a member of the Royal Netherlands and European Academies of Arts and Sciences and a former director of the Anton Pannekoek Institute and chair of the Raad voor de Astronomie (National Astronomy Strategic Planning Council).
In addition to being an editor of MNRAS, he was also physics editor of arXiv, a repository of scientific articles accessible to anyone, and its editor-in-chief.
Lex Kaper, Director of the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, said: "You always knew when Ralph was around; and by that, I mean not only his distinctive voice, but also the time he took to pop into your office and enquire about the latest developments, both scientific and personal.
"It is literally and figuratively quieter without Ralph; we thank him for his boundless dedication to API, Dutch astronomy, science and society. We will miss him enormously."