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Federal Funding of Astronomical Research (2000)

Chapter: A: Discipline and Field Categories

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Suggested Citation:"A: Discipline and Field Categories." National Research Council. 2000. Federal Funding of Astronomical Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9954.
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A

Discipline and Field Categories

Since one of the main requirements of this study was to track the health of the various subfields and subdisciplines in astronomy, it was necessary to define classification categories (see Table A.1 ). These are of necessity broad and general and have proven to be useful for the committee's studies of grants, publications, and research personnel. “Discipline” refers to the primary activity of a grant, individual investigator, or publication; for example, papers primarily describing new optical observations would be classified as OO, papers describing a purely phenomenological analysis of data would be classified as theory (TH), and so forth. “Field” refers to the area of study, such as the Sun, Earth's planetary system, star formation, cosmology, and so on. A paper on optical observations of the Sun would be classified as OO/SO (solar). Any such analysis of either individuals or grants, and sometimes publications, is at some level subjective since individuals, for example, often work in more than one discipline and in more than one field.

Note that the discipline category observational infrared (OI) covers part of the wavelength region traditionally considered infrared astronomy, 1 to 3 microns. The split was made this way in part to distinguish between observations requiring space or airborne platforms and those usually done from ground-based telescopes and in part because near-IR (NIR) observations and instrumentation are now closer to optical in nature than far-IR (FIR). Even this split is not optimal because longer-wavelength observations can be done from the ground in some transparent bands, and optical and NIR observations are done in space with the HST. Observational radio (OR) also extends to wavelengths as short as 350 microns if done from the ground. Since different people categorized publications and AAS members and since it is generally easier to classify a single publication rather than the body of work that might pertain to an individual, slight differences exist in these classifications. Ground-based NIR-related publications were classified as OO, while space-based NIR-related publications were classified as OI.

TABLE A.1 Disciplines and Fields

Discipline

 

Field

 

OR

Observational radio or SMM

PL

Planetary

OI

Observational IR (3 microns+)

SO

Solar

OO

Observational optical/IR

ST

Stellar

OU

Observational UV

IM

ISM+the Galaxy

OH

Observational HEA

GA

Galaxies+clusters

EP

Experimental particles and fields

AG

Active galactic nuclei

EA

Laboratory strophysics

SF

Star and planet formation

TH

Theory

IN

Instrumentation

AE

Aeronomy or atmospheric science

CO

Cosmology

AM

Amateur or historian

FM

Fundamental experimental

AD

Administration

NA

Not applicable

NOTE: Acronyms are defined in Appendix H.

Suggested Citation:"A: Discipline and Field Categories." National Research Council. 2000. Federal Funding of Astronomical Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9954.
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The Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA), at its meeting on September 8, 1997, was briefed on the legislative report accompanying the bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for the National Science Foundation (NSF). The report raised a number of questions about trends in support for research in astronomy and the overall robustness of the programs providing that support. At its meeting, the CAA heard the views of NSF and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on these issues. In consultation with the Board on Physics and Astronomy, the Space Studies Board, and representatives of NASA and NSF, the committee accepted the task of studying three of the questions raised by the House Science Committee (HSC). It was intended that the results of the study would help guide federal support of basic research for the next decade and serve as analytical input to the new 2000 decadal survey of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee (AASC). The study would not offer specific funding recommendations, but rather would provide a background analysis of the alignment between available resources, agency priorities, and the vitality of the basic research program.

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