There has long been a marriage between the fields of physics and astronomy in the College of Sciences. To salute that union, the college announced the newly named Department of Physics and Astronomy last fall.

“It just seemed to be time to recognize that in name,” says Professor Emeritus Stephen Reynolds, who was hired as NC State’s sole astrophysicist in 1985. “It’s a recognition of a substantial background.”

Reynolds traces the beginnings of that background. He tells of J.M.A. “Tony” Danby, a math professor who studied celestial mechanics. Danby joined the university’s faculty in the 1960s and eventually taught a graduate survey in the physics department. And Reynolds points to a Ph.D. student publishing work in The Astrophysical Journal in the early 1980s as a milestone for NC State. 

Those wins set the foundation for what astrophysics and astronomy have become at the university. That includes hiring of faculty honored for their observation prowess, research on how galaxies evolve, and their studies of supernovae, which Reynolds says mirrors a “fundamental form of genealogy.” “You think, ‘Who are your ancestors?’ Well, the study of supernovae is about where your ancestral atoms came from.”

Department head Paul Huffman ’90 says there have been talks about the name change for 20 years. Now, it should help with priorities like recruitment, that is getting more of the best and the brightest — future “stars,” if you will — into the program. “We hope it will increase graduate enrollment,” he says.

Huffman adds that the department teaches two 100-level courses and a 300-level astrophysics course. And in addition to an interdisciplinary major the department added a couple of years back, it’s now in the process of adding an astronomy minor, which is a no-brainer with how the two disciplines have long been connected.

“I was an undergraduate here. I took my first astrophysics course [at NC State] from Stephen Reynolds,” says Huffman, who is solely a physicist. “The core classes the students take are the same. A lot of it is how you apply it.”

Tell Us What You Think

Do you have a personal connection to this story? Did it spark a memory? Want to share your thoughts? Send us a letter, and we may include it in an upcoming issue of NC State magazine.