Teaching-Astronomy

Astronomy teaching at Sussex

MSc courses

The Astronomy MSc degree started in October 1965, some three months before the first member of astronomy faculty (Bill McCrea) arrived. As recorded in Roger Tayler's article about the first thirty years of astronomy at Sussex, the first teaching was done by visiting faculty from the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), then at Herstmonceux, supplemented by courses by physics and mathematics faculty. The complete list of courses available to the first cohort of students is:

1965-66 (1st year part-time students only; all RGO staff):

• Descriptive Astronomy
• Stellar and Galactic Dynamics
• Stellar Interiors

1966-67 (2nd year part-time students, plus 7 full-time students)

The three courses above, plus 4 additional astronomy courses:

• Celestial Mechanics
• Elementary Cosmology
• Radio Astronomy
• Stellar Atmospheres

and 6 courses in mathematics and physics, of which the first two were given specially for the MSc and the other four were available to other students:

• Atomic Physics
• Plasma Physics
• Advanced Quantum Mechanics
• Approximation Theory
• Numerical Solution of Differential Equations
• Weak Interactions

The programme was reorganised for students starting in October 1967. The basic structure was of three 24-lecture compulsory courses plus a number of optional 16-lecture courses (6 or 7 available each year), of which students were expected to study four for examination (however, initially the structure of the examination papers allowed students in practice to answer questions on no more than one optional course; thus was changed for 1974-75 so that they had to answer questions on at least two optional courses). There was also a project, which counted for one-third of the weight.

From 1967-8 to 1974-5, there were three three-hour examination papers; each paper had 4 questions in Section A (on one of the compulsory courses), plus a Section B containing one question on each of the compulsory courses. Initially the rubric was to answer 3 questions, not more than 2 from each section; in 1974-5 this was changed to 4 questions, with 2 questions from each section; the question lengths were adjusted from 60 to 45 minutes.

From 1975-6 to 1996-7, after the addition of the fourth compulsory course, the structure of the three papers was altered. Each of Papers I and II consisted of two sections, each contianing 4 questions on one of the compulsory courses. Paper III contained 3 questions on each of the theoretical options, plus two questions on the Instrumental Astronomy course in the years when it ran (there was also a piece of assessed practical work during the course).

The compulsory courses were:

• Introduction to Astronomy (a general overview of observational material, originally given by Bernard Pagel and subsequently by Robert Smith, Nigel Holloway and others)
  
• Structure of Galaxies (which included Stellar Dynamics) (initially given by Donald Lynden-Bell; later by Robert Smith, John Barrow and others)
• Structure of Stars (which included Stellar Atmospheres) (given for a long time by Roger Tayler, from 1967-8, probably almost until the major revision of the degree in 1997)

• High Energy Astrophysics - added in 1975-76: see above (given initially by and at the instigation of Nigel Holloway; later by Roger Tayler, then Peter Thomas)

An almost complete list of optional courses given over the years, with the lecturers where still known (names with ? are those listed on the board of examiners in the relevant year who are known to have the appropriate expertise), is:

• Abundance of the Elements (Roger Tayler?)
• Accretion Discs (Robert Smith)
• Astrophysical Plasmas (Roger Tayler)
• Cataclysmic Variables} (Robert Smith)
• Celestial Mechanics (Michael Cummings?)
• Close Binary Stars} (Robert Smith)
• Cosmology (Bill McCrea)
• Emission-line Objects (Michael Penston?)
• Evolution of the Solar System (Bill McCrea)
• Galactic Kinematics and Structure (Derek Jones and Andrew Murray)
• High Energy Astrophysics (Nigel Holloway) (1974-75 - then became a compulsory course: see above)
• Instrumental Astronomy (a 2-week residential course at RGO, taught by a variety of RGO staff)
• Interstellar Medium (Roger Tayler? later perhaps Michael Penston)
• Mass Loss and Stellar Winds (Robert Smith)
• Non-spherical Stars (Robert Smith)
• Nucleogenesis (Frank Clifford?)
• Origin of the Chemical Elements (Roger Tayler or Bernard Pagel)
• Peculiar Galaxies and Quasars (Michael Penston?)
• Radio Astronomy (Richard Bingham?)
• Radio Astronomy and Radio Sources (?)
• Relativistic Astrophysics (Leon Mestel?)
• Relativity and Astrophysics (John Jackson?)
• Spiral Structure and Galactic Nuclei (Donald Lynden-Bell? or Bernard Pagel?)
• Star Clusters (Bob Dickens?)
• Star Formation (Paul Murdin or Michael Penston? later Robert Smith)
• Stellar Evolution (John Hazlehurst, then Robert Smith)
• Stellar Hydrodynamics (Robert Smith)
• Stellar Stability (John Hazlehurst? later Robert Smith)
• Stellar Stability and Variable Stars (John Hazlehurst?)
  
  

Undergraduate courses

Undergraduate teaching began in a small way, with one third-year option (Stellar Structure) taught by Roger Tayler, starting in 1967 or 1968. This was available to all students in the school (then MAPS) and proved very popular. Roger, until 1970 the only teaching member of faculty, also supervised third year projects in astronomy for physicists. He believed at that stage that it was not possible to study serious astronomy until the third year, after a good grounding in physics and mathematics. This view coloured the structure of the first undergraduate degree programme involviing astronomy: a degree called Physics with Mathematics and Astronomy (PMAst), where the astronomy content consisted of three third year courses in astronomy plus a third year astronomy project. The initial three courses were:

• Galactic Structure
• Interstellar Medium (this was only available to PMAst students; it was subsequently shortened and became a second-year summer-term course)
• Stellar Structure

Later options included Relativity and Cosmology.