Teaching-Astronomy

Astronomy teaching at Sussex

MSc courses

The beginning

The Astronomy MSc degree started in October 1965, some three months before the first member of astronomy faculty (Bill McCrea) arrived. It was a joint programme with the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) at Herstmonceux, up to and including the academic year 1988-89. 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 RGO, 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 full programme

The programme was reorganised for students starting in October 1967, by which time several other astronomy teaching and research faculty were in place. The basic structure was of three 24-lecture compulsory courses plus a number of optional 16-lecture courses (normally 6 available each year; 7 in the first 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).From 1975-6, the number of options was reduced to 5 each year (4 from 1988-90).

From 1997-8 to 2001-2, because of the national withdrawal of funding for Advanced Course Studentships, the programme was further re-organised, to allow the sharing of teaching with undergraduate students. The four compulsory courses were changed, and each was examined separately (Fundamentals of Astronomy by coursework only).

In 2002-3 a new programme in Cosmology was added, with a structure that involved theoretical physics courses. Many options became available, and the structure became more complicated and will not be described here. The current programme structures can be found on the department website.

The compulsory courses were as follows.

From 1967-8 to 1996-7:

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

From 1997-8 to 2001-2

• Fundamentals of Astronomy (a replacement for Introduction to Astronomy, run as a guided reading course; the only course now for MSc students only; given by Robert Smith)
  
• Galactic Structure (same lecture course as for undergraduates, but with different assessment)
  
• Cosmology (same lecture course as for undergraduates, but with different assessment)
  
• Stellar Structure (same lecture course as for undergraduates, but with different assessment)
  

A complete list of optional courses given between the years 1967-8 and 2001-2, with the lecturers where known (names with ? are those listed on the board of examiners in the relevant year who are known to have the appropriate expertise; * denotes research fellow), is:

• Abundance[s] of the Elements (Bernard Pagel? 1967-8, 1971-2)
• Accretion Discs (Robert Smith 1985-6, 1992-4, Carole Haswell 1995-7)
• Active Galaxies and Quasars (Michael Penston 1984-5)
  
• Astrometry and Galactic Astronomy (Andrew Murray and Derek Jones)
  
• Astrophysical Plasmas (Roger Tayler 1970-1, Richard Rijnbeek 1996-7)
• Cataclysmic Binaries (Robert Smith 1989-90)
  
• Cataclysmic Variables (Robert Smith)
• Celestial Mechanics (Michael Cummings? 1967-8)
• Close Binaries (Alistair Robertson)
  
• Close Binary Stars (Robert Smith 1982-4, 1988-9)
• Clusters of Galaxies (Peter Thomas 1991-3)
  
• Cosmic Electrodynamics (Leon Mestel 1987-8)
  
• Cosmic Microwave Background (Bernard Jones, visitor, 1990-1)
  
• Cosmology (Bill McCrea 1967-71)
• Cosmology and Particles (John Barrow 1988-9, 1990-1)
  
• Distant Universe (Jon Loveday or Kathy Romer? 2000-2)
• Elementary Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology (Roger Tayler?)
  
• Elementary Particles and Cosmology (John Barrow)
  
• Emission-line Objects (Michael Penston? or Keith Taylor?)
• Emission-line Objects in Astrophysics (Michael Penston 1986-7)
  
• Evolution of the Solar System (Bill McCrea 1971-2)
• Experimental Tests of General Relativity (John Barrow)
  
• Extragalactic Astronomy (Elena and Roberto Terlevich 1988-89)
  
• Formation of Stars and Galaxies (Leon Mestel)
  
• Galactic Kinematics and Structure (Derek Jones and Andrew Murray , 1987-8)
• Galactic Nuclei (Mark Bailey*)
  
• Galaxy Formation (Peter Thomas 1993-5)
  
• Gaseous Nebulae (Bernard Pagel) (course not given in full, because of lack of audience)
  
• General Relativity (Jim Byrne 1997-8, ? 1998-2002)
  
• Gravitational Astrophysics (Nigel Holloway)
  
• Gravitational Waves (John Barrow 1985-6)
  
• High Energy Astrophysics (Nigel Holloway) (1974-75 - then became a compulsory course: see above)
• Inflationary Cosmology (John Barrow 1987-88, 1989-90)
  
• Instrumental Astronomy (a 2-week residential course at RGO, taught by a variety of RGO staff 1967-88)
• Interacting Binary Stars (Chris Campbell* 1986-7)
  
• Interstellar Medium (Roger Tayler? 1968-70, 1971-2 later perhaps Michael Penston, and later certainly Max Pettini, Peter Thomas 1997-8)
• Large-scale Structure and Galaxy Formation (Kandu Subramanian* 1996-7)
  
• Mass Loss and Stellar Winds (Robert Smith)
• Model Testing in Astronomy (Martin Hendry* 1994-6)
  
• Neutrinos in Cosmology (John Barrow 1991-2)
  
• Non-spherical Stars (Robert Smith 1970-1)
• Nucleogenesis (Frank Clifford? 1967-9, 1970-1)
• Observational Cosmology (Rodney Smith* 1986-7)
  
• Optical Instrumentation and Data Analysis (Andrew Cameron* 1992-4)
  
• Origin of the [Chemical] Elements (Frank Clifford)
• Peculiar Galaxies and Quasars (Michael Penston?)
• Physics of Emission-Line Sources (Keith Taylor 1985-6)
  
• Physics of Pulsars (Leon Mestel 1988-9)
  
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis (John Barrow 1993-4)
  
• Radio and Infrared Astronomy (Rob Fender* 1996-7)
  
• Radio Astronomy (Richard Bingham? 1967-70)
• Radio Astronomy and Radio Sources (?)
• Relativistic Astrophysics (Leon Mestel?)
• Relativity and Astrophysics (John Jackson* 1969-70, 1971-2)
• Solar and Stellar Magnetic Fields (Moira Jardine* 1992-3)
  
• Solar System Astronomy (Paul Roche 1995-6)
  
• Solar-Stellar Connection (Andrew Cameron* 1989-92)
  
• Space Plasma Physics (Sandra Chapman 1990-1, Richard Rijnbeek 1997-9)
  
• Spectroscopic Astrophysics (Peter Schroeder 2000-1)
• Spiral Structure and Galactic Nuclei (Donald Lynden-Bell? 1970-1)
• Star Clusters (Bob Dickens?, Simon Clarke 1998-9)
• Star Formation (Paul Murdin or Michael Penston? Robert Smith 1975-6, Leon Mestel 1985-6, 1991-2)
• Stellar Evolution (John Hazlehurst 1967-8, 1969-70, 1971-2, Robert Smith 1973-75, 1986-88, 1994-95, Leon Mestel 1989-91)
• Stellar Hydrodynamics (Robert Smith)
• Stellar Stability (John Hazlehurst 1972-3, Robert Smith 1977-78, 1979-80, 1991-92, 1995-96)
• Stellar Stability and Variable Stars (John Hazlehurst 1968-9)
  
• Stellar Winds and Mass Loss (Robert Smith)
  
• The Early Universe (Andrew Liddle* 1992-5, David Wands* 1995-6, John Barrow 1996-9, ? 1999-2000)
  
• The Regularity of the Universe (John Barrow)
  
• X-Ray Astronomy (Nigel Holloway)
  
• X-ray and Gamma-ray Astronomy (Paul Roche 1994-5)
  
  

Reminiscences by Robert Smith (involved from 1968 onwards)

In the early days, many of the part-time students were RGO staff members, and this continued until virtually all the staff members who qualified to do an MSc had obtained one. We also used the MSc courses as training for DPhil students, who were expected to pass oral examinations on the four compulsory courses. This examining (with two examiners per student per course) took up quite a time, and was not always systematically pursued - some DPhil students escaped without passing (or even sitting) all the orals.  Fortunately, it was not a formal university requirement. By the 1990s, we had gone over to asking the DPhill students to sit the MSc written examinations - much less effort.

The DSIR, SRC and SERC all proved surprisingly generous in providing funding for Advanced Course studentships for the MSc, despite the head of SRC, Sam Edwards (who had actually been our first external examiner for the MSc), saying to Roger Tayler on one occasion in the 1970s that he didn't know why the Council supported our programme. Eventually, the Education and Training Committee of PPARC decided to stop funding any MSc programmes in Astronomy (there were by then four in the UK), with effect from 1 October 1997. Although John Barrow and I protested, and indeed organised a write-in by many MSc graduates, there was no relenting. This led directly to the 1997 revision of the MSc structure noted above.

In these days of careful scrutiny by curriculum committees of any new course, it is interesting to note how we decided in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (possibly even later) which options would be offered in any particular year. In the earliest days, the three or four faculty members regularly met for lunch in the Senior Common Room, and often discussed Astronomy Centre business (we rarely held formal subject group meetings). Early in the summer term someone would ask what options we should offer from the coming October, and a draft would be roughed out, on the basis of changing one or two options each year (for the benefit of the part-time students). Once we had agreement from the relevant lecturers, a document would be circulated with the new programme - no form-filling, no formal curriculum committee, no approval by a higher university committee. We were just trusted to get on with it - and we did.

Early on, Roger Tayler introduced some introductory lectures to try to bring all students up to some common level of knowledge. Initially this was just a crash course of 8 lectures by him on physics relevant to astrophysics, but later I added six lectures on descriptive astronomy, which were mainly slide shows, and two on the history of astronomy. These all formed a non-examinable introduction to the programme, given in the first two weeks of the autumn term.

At some point, we started to be concerned about some students doing poorly in the written examination, and introduced a progress examination in January. The results didn't count towards the degree - but it enabled us to pick up the weak students and keep an eye on them, as well as pointing out to them the need to work harder....

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.