Brian Welch ('07) and Dr. Dan Homan in the planetarium housed in Olin Science Hall.

You will find the study of Physics and Astronomy at Denison to be exciting, challenging, and potentially rewarding. It offers you the opportunity to explore our physical world, from the very small to the very large. When you have developed a solid foundation in the fundamental principles of physics your interests can be directed either toward a deeper understanding of those principles and/or to applications of the principles of physics to problems ranging from the environment to engineering design to better sources and uses of energy to biology or chemistry.

The department regularly offers approximately 16 courses each year. The average class size is 29 students in the introductory courses and is 7 in the upper level courses. Once beyond the introductory level, you may elect to become involved with independent investigations with fellow students and/or members of our faculty who are involved in research programs of their own. For instance, you will find active, ongoing experimental and theoretical projects in fields such as Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy, Lasers, Stellar and Galactic Evolution, Planetary Atmospheres, Properties of Condensed Matter, and Conducting Polymers.

Richard Field ('09) working in Physics Negative Ion lab.

We are housed in the Olin Science building. This facility provides space for offices, classrooms, and student and faculty laboratories, as well as our own library and student study areas. Our laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art apparatus, including computers which are used extensively for modeling phenomena and/or for acquiring and analyzing data from experiments. Our Machine Shop, also located in the new building, is staffed by a full-time Instrument Maker who is available to assist both faculty and student projects. An additional exciting feature of Olin Science Building is the Planetarium, the central element of which is a Zeiss ZKP3 Planetarium Projector.

Swasey Observatory, located in another part of campus, gives you access to a nine-inch refractor and several eight-inch reflecting telescopes.  Each of these has available various photographic and photometric accessories.

At our remote observation area in the Biological Reserve we have mounts for our eight inch reflecting telescopes.  These are used by each student in our Current Topics in Astronomy (A-100) to view and photograph the Universe around us.