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Appendixes
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Appendix A
The Demographics of Solar Physics
AGE DISTRIBUTION
Questionnaires eliciting age by decadal grouping were mailed to 275
of the 301 current U.S. members of the Solar Physics Division of the
American Astronomical Society, which kindly provided address labels for
this purpose. This committee received 200 returns 124 from individuals
and 76 from respondents who provided information for the solar physics
staff members of their institutions (16 returns were excluded because of
the possibility of duplicate counting). For clarity, the committee therefore
presents the individual and institutional responses separately Cable N1~.
The analysis is limited to PhDs. Table A.1 shows a trend that is consistent
with recent independent studies of the age distribution of U.S. natural
scientists and engineers, namely that these populations are not replacing
themselves.
WORKPLACE DISTRIBUTION
The type of institution employing PhD solar physicists in 1987 is shown
in Able N2. Parallel information for PhD astronomers as a whole is also
given for comparison. Data for the solar physicists were obtained from the
American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division mailing list pro-
vided to the committee for this report. Data for the type of employment
for PhDs working in astronomy were provided by the Education and Em-
ployment Division of the American Institute of Physics. Ibble N2 indicates
that solar physics researchers are significantly more represented at the few
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TABLE A.1 Age Distribution of PhD Scientists in the Field of Solar Physics
Responding to Questionnaires
Age Group
Questionnaires Returned 20-29 30-39
40~9 50-59 60-69 70 + Total
Individual returns 4 35 47 18 15 5 124
Institutional returns 10 19 18 6 6 1 60
Total 14 54 65 24 21 6 184
TABLE A.2 Type of Employment in 1987 for PhDs Working in Solar
Physics Compared to That for PhDs Working in Astronomy, by
Percent
Workplace
Solar Physicists Astronomers*
University or college 32 58
Industry 10 3
Government 29 18
FFRDC** and research
institute 12 21
Other 17 -
Total 100 100
*Based on a sample survey conducted by the American Institute
of Physics (sample size: 134 for PliDs working in astronomy3.
*+FFRDC, federally funded research and development center.
Includes 26 non-U.S. scientists and 26 scientists who
provided home addresses only and could not be otherwise
classified by the committee.
government laboratories and underrepresented at the many universities,
compared, for example, to astronomers as a whole.
