Joost Kiewiet de Jonge '41, Dutch astronomer who was drafted last winter by the Netherlands government in London, has successfully escaped from Java to Australia, news reaching Professor Bart J. Bok at the University Observatory revealed yesterday.

The news came in a cable from Adelaide, Australia, in which de Jonge informed his father, in New York, that he had now joined his brother in the RAAF, having switched from the defunct Dutch East Indies Air Force.

Left College Last March

Last March the young telescopist left College and went to Canada, where he attended a flight training school in preparation for his post as pilot for the Dutch East Indies Air Force. He was transferred to Java late last summer, and remained there until he was forced to escape after the Japanese conquest.

Although a citizen of the Netherlands, de Jonge came here from Switzerland, where his father directed a sanatorium for mental diseases. Previous to his enrollment here, the young Dutchman had built a planetarium of his own in Switzerland, and he selected Harvard because of the excellent facilities offered by the University Observatory.

He returned to his family in Switzerland during the summer vacations, and last year his father and brother came to the United States to join him here. A resident of Winthrop House, de Jonge was president of the Cercle Francais, and he participated in many activities carried on by that organization. On the occasions when he took time off from his star-gazing activities, cycling and skiing proved his favorite diversions.