Professor Brian Murphy (Ph.D. 1988), Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Butler University, is retiring after 31 years on the faculty. As a student Brian worked with Haldan Cohn and Richard Durisen on the evolution of active galactic nuclei and globular clusters using multi-component models. After postdoctoral positions at Utrecht and Cornell he accepted a faculty position at Butler, where he continued work on the dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems.
Brian has served as the face of astronomy throughout the Indy metro area, and has overseen Butler’s Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium. Butler’s students have appreciated his support of undergraduate research over the decades – he’s guided some 5-10 mentees each year working on variable stars, with a focus on stars on identifying and characterizing variable stars in globular clusters. Brian and his students have made extensive use of the telescopes operated by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy for their observations.
Brian also developed a popular Core Curriculum course at Butler – The Astronomical Universe, taking advantage of Butler’s campus observatory and planetarium.
We wish Brian a long and fulfilling retirement!
The College of Arts