Department History

History of Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

The University opened its doors to the students and classes began on January 22, 1872. Although the department of physics was not established until 1907, physics as a subject was taught from the very beginning of the University. As a matter of fact, the very first graduate of the University, William J. Waggener, became a physicist and went on to establish the department of physics at the University of Colorado. From 1872 to 1907, physics was taught by instructors whose primary field was not physics (such as chemistry, mathematics, engineering, or even biology or geology).

The department of physics was established in the 1907-08 academic year, when the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in physics were defined, and the first full-time physics instructor, Giles Ripley, was hired. Although the requirements for a degree in physics were defined in 1907, first physics degree was not awarded until 1928. Thus, the department, during its first 25-30 years of existence, was serving primarily as a service department even though it was teaching several 300-level courses. The first 400-level course, Introduction to Theoretical Physics, was added in 1932-33. It was primarily a course on mechanics and included some Relativity. More 400-level courses were added as physics majors grew. The number of physics majors continued to grow, interrupted by the War, and by the late 1940’s the department had a flourishing undergraduate program. Physics master’s program evolved out of its bachelor’s program and the first master’s degree in physics was awarded in 1939.

The Ph.D. program in physics was approved by the graduate school in 1959, and the first degree was awarded in 1964. The department had only five faculty members in1959 but a strong desire to succeed. It was fortunate that the Ph.D. program was born in the post-sputnik era when ample federal support for research was available and the department was able to avail itself of this opportunity. The department’s number of graduate students, faculty, and research have grown steadily since. It celebrated the semicentennial anniversary of its Ph.D. program in 2009, and an archival record of those proceedings along with a short history of the Ph.D. program can be found here.

First research program involving undergraduate and master’s students was started by Professor Lloyd Ham after he joined the department in 1932, although research publications by the physics faculty based on work done at the University of Arkansas go back to 1926. The first two publications, both in the Physical Review appeared in 1926, even before the first bachelor’s degree was awarded by the department. Any research done by the faculty in this early period was due to individual efforts of the faculty. After the War, Professor Paul Sharrah restarted his research program in x-ray diffraction. Additional research programs were started by the faculty in subsequent years. Professor Ray Hughes joined the faculty in 1954 and started a vigorous research program in atomic physics. Start of the PhD program in 1959 provided a major boost to department’s research. Research done by the faculty and students have made significant contributions to the areas of, among others, atomic physics, lasers and quantum optics, biophysics, condensed-matter physics, quantum materials and astronomy.

The department celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2007-2008. An archival record of the centennial events is available here.