Astrophysics

Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that employs the principles of physics and chemistry "to ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in space."

Quotes

 * I have no trouble publishing in Soviet astrophysical journals, but my work is unacceptable to the American astrophysical journals.
 * The peer review system is satisfactory during quiescent times, but not during a revolution in a discipline such as astrophysics, when the establishment seeks to preserve the status quo.
 * Students using astrophysical textbooks remain essentially ignorant of even the existence of plasma concepts, despite the fact that some of them have been known for half a century. The conclusion is that astrophysics is too important to be left in the hands of astrophysicists who have gotten their main knowledge from these textbooks. Earthbound and space telescope data must be treated by scientists who are familiar with laboratory and magnetospheric physics and circuit theory, and of course with modern plasma theory.
 * Hannes Alfvén, as quoted by, Dean of the Plasma Dissidents in "The World and I" (supplement to the Washington Times, May 1988), p. 197.


 * The greatest astronomers of the first half of the 20th century were the astrophysicists. For example, Arthur Eddington, Cecilia Payne, Hans Bethe, and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar elucidated the physical nature of stars using the new quantum theories of atomic, nuclear and particle physics. In recent decades, about half of the prizes of the American Astronomical Society are awarded for work in astrophysics and half in astronomy.