Remembering Hugo Alleyne, former member of staff

Hugo was born in Dominica but lived and attended schools in many other islands as his father’s postings moved the family around the Caribbean. He won both the Grenada National and the Federation of the West Indies Scholarships and chose to read physics at the University of the West Indies (UWI). His passion for science, particularly space exploration, was evident from his undergraduate years. He was even more inspired when he was sponsored by the Organisation of American States (OAS) to visit the newly-completed Jicamarca Radio Observatory in Peru.

Hugo’s first association with the University of Sheffield was in 1967 when he commenced PhD studies of periodic motions in the atmosphere in the Department of Physics under Professor T.R. Kaiser. In 1971 he returned to UWI, to lecture in Physics, where he was instrumental in developing the Applied Physics Programme, especially in the area of Electronics. He was also Vice Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and advisor to the Jamaican Government on the use of computing in education, which was then in its infancy. He worked tirelessly to improve science education in the Caribbean. 

While at UWI Hugo set up a meteor wind radar to measure atmospheric winds at equatorial latitudes building on his PhD work at Sheffield and complementing existing laser radar and radio sounding installations. He was elected as a Senior Fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

In 1988 he returned to Sheffield as project manager for the University’s participation in the European Space Agency’s Cluster mission. He became Principal Investigator of the Digital Wave Processor (DWP) instrument and the Head of the Sheffield Space Systems Laboratory, from 1996 until his retirement in 2010. He was an honorary lecturer in Physics, before being appointed Senior Lecturer in Automatic Control and System Engineering, rising to the post of Reader. 

He continued to be closely involved with UWI as an external examiner and curriculum advisor and supervised many research projects across the Caribbean. In 2008 the UWI Physics Department celebrated its 60th anniversary. Hugo was invited to be the keynote speaker in recognition of his international achievements.

During his time in Sheffield, Hugo was involved in many space missions and instrument developments including: 

• Cluster, a four spacecraft mission investigating the interaction between the Sun and Earth’s magnetosphere, ESA’s largest international project. ESA identified centres of excellence throughout Europe and the UK staffed by bright researchers and engineers. Each centre was directed by a Principal Investigator responsible for the design, development and production of designated instruments. The Sheffield DWP instrument was the central processor for the Wave Experiment Consortium, a complex of instruments measuring electric and magnetic waves, comprising 5 of the 11 instruments on each spacecraft.

• Double Star, a two spacecraft Chinese magnetospheric mission using spare instruments originally built for Cluster, launched in 2003 and operated until 2007. 

• Cassini, an ESA/NASA mission to Saturn. Hugo’s team contributed data compression software for the Radio and Plasma Wave Spectrometer instrument. 

• ROSETTA MIDAS microscopy of dust grains expelled from comet P67.

• SMART-1 (lunar orbiter) DCIXS X-ray spectrometer.

Hugo was also a member of PPARC (UK research council) and ESA review panels, and an external examiner for PhD theses at several UK universities. 

Shortly after Hugo became Principal Investigator of the Sheffield DWP the Cluster project suffered a disaster. The failed Ariane 5 launch destroyed the spacecraft that had taken seven years to build. Hugo kept the team together, and following the European Space Agency’s decision to rebuild Cluster, assembled a new set of DWP instruments which were successfully relaunched from Kazakhstan in 2000. These continued to operate until the mission ended in September 2024.

In October 2025 ESA celebrated the retirement of Cluster at a conference in Paris while also presenting the proposed new Plasma Observatory seven-spacecraft mission. Cluster’s legacy was marked by a day including talks honouring four deceased Cluster PIs. Hugo was one of them. 

Hugo loved to teach. Nothing was too much trouble for him, he found time to listen, talk and advise anyone who came to his door. No one was ever turned away. He would take time to explain the principles of the problem and lead you in such a way that you felt that you had solved the problem on your own. This led him to develop a series of fun lectures using the reality of the science behind Star Trek. His passion for space studies made learning accessible to a wider, non-University audience, including many of Yorkshire’s amateur astronomical societies.

As a keen sportsman, he enjoyed playing tennis. He was also: a strong swimmer, proficient diver, adept at sailing, and loved walking on the Yorkshire Moors. However, his greatest passion was cricket. He played for the University of Sheffield staff team, most of whom were half his age, where he was nicknamed the ‘Silver Fox’. He was renowned for his prowess with the bat and held several records as an opening batsman despite being named as the ‘Youngest Oldest cricketer’.

Sadly, it was whilst playing cricket one weekend in 2010 that Hugo suffered a heart attack. During surgery he suffered a stroke which left him paralysed. His wife Alvona (Suelan) to whom he was married for 57 years nursed him devotedly. He died on 27th October, 2024, surrounded by his family. They have two sons, Sean and Mathew, and four grandchildren, Sophie, Millie, Charlie and James, and daughter-in-law Emma.

Hugo, a talented scientist, superb engineer, inspiring teacher and mentor, was able to impart knowledge simply and clearly to all. A friendly colleague to whom you could turn to for advice, leadership, or just a quiet chat. He never forgot his roots, always striving to improve science education in his native West Indies. Hugo was a kind and considerate person, always finding the time for you, no matter who you were. These qualities have been emphasised by his friends and colleagues worldwide.

It is often said that good science unites all – the universal quality that overrides all geopolitical, cultural and racial differences. ESA and Cluster empowered Hugo’s development as a pioneering black scientist who spanned the worlds of education, work and race across the West Indies and Europe. He was a friend to everyone, and the friend everyone needs.