Joseph S. Tenn

Joe Tenn was born in Los Angeles and educated at South Gate High School, Stanford University and the University of Washington. Between his undergraduate and graduate years he taught high school mathematics and physics as a member of the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Ethiopia, which he revisited in 1995.

Dr. Tenn has taught in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Sonoma State University since 1970. He enjoys teaching courses in mechanics; modern, mathematical, statistical, and quantum physics; and astronomy and astrophysics. In Spring 2008 he is teaching Astronomy 350 Cosmology and he is directing the What Physicists Do public lecture series, which he founded in 1971. The series may be taken for credit as Physics 494 Physics Seminar.

Dr. Tenn served for nearly thirty years as Department Advisor and for three as Department Chair.

He has been active in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and served for twelve years as a member of its History Committee, which he chaired from 1993-1999. He has written more than 30 articles on the modern history of astronomy, most of them profiles of winners of the ASP's Catherine Wolfe Bruce gold medal, for the Society's magazine, Mercury. His biographies of the Bruce Medalists and a list of his publications are available online.

He is a member of the the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and its Historical Astronomy Division (HAD), the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and its Northern California/Nevada chapter, which he served as president in 2004-05, and Physics In Our Neighborhood (PION), a local alliance of physics teachers which he coordinated from its beginning in December 1994 until September 2004. He is a consultant to the History of Astronomy Commission of the International Astronomical Union. In February 2007 he was appointed secretary-treasurer of the HAD.

For those seeking interesting web sites he has compiled lists of Favorite Physics Links, Favorite Astronomy Links, Educational Resources in Physics and Astronomy, Jobs in Physics, Astronomy, and Other Fields, Steps Toward Graduate School, Undergraduate Research Opportunities, and others.

Also of interest, especially to prospective students, are the Department's annual newsletter, The Physics Major, and the achievements of some of its graduates.

Dr. Tenn may be found in his office, Darwin 300I, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The most reliable way to reach him is e-mail. Current office hours may be found at Faculty and Staff.