PAGE 8
Paul Rosenfeld: Ten Years in the Making
by Marge Tomczak
Collegian Staff Writer
Paul Rosenfeld began college in
1971 at the age of 17 at New York
City's Queen's College. He
originally majored in pre-med,
but after failing organic
chemistry in his sophomore year,
he decided that "maybe being a
physician wasn't for me."
Rosenfeld switched to psychology
and graduated with a B.A. in
1975.
Rosenfeld wanted to be a
clinical psychologist but couldn't
get into graduate school. So, he
opted for an M.A. in general
psychology at Queen's College.
While working on his masters
degree he was involved in ex
perimental psychology. After a
while, he realized that this would
not be an area to his liking.
In order to do the experiments
Rosenfeld had to work with rats.
He commented, "I really hated
those rats and they hated me; I
What's Up—
Astrology Versus Astronomy
by Thomas Milley
Collegian Staff Writer
Somewhere, out there--beyond
the clouds, science and myth con
verge and unite to form the ob
jects, creatures and persons we
know as the constellations. The
modern word constellation is
derived from the Greek words for
"star picture." There are basical
ly three types of constellations:
The circumpolar (those which are
closest to the celestial pole, and
are seen all year), the seasonal and
the zodiac.
The zodiac are the constella
tions in which the planets may be
found, depending on the time of
year. (From Sept. to Dec. they are
in the constellations close to the
sun, so they're out in the
daytime, but the sun, of course,
makes viewing them impossible.)
In case you ever wondered how
the dates became associated with
your "sign," they were the dates
in ancient times when the sun was
in that sign of the zodiac.
Unfortunately, astrology and
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have a very definite 'rat phobia.'
Usually we were expected to wear
a pair of gloves for protection. I
wore two pairs: one for the rat to
bite through and the second to
protect me. I decided I'd be better
off to work with humans, who
generally don't bite."
His dream of being a clinical
psychologist still prevailed, so
Rosenfeld applied to 25 schools to
be a doctoral candidate, and was
rejected by all of them. He also
applied to the State University of
New York at Albany in social
psychology as a backup. "Since
they were the only school to ac
cept me, I decided to go there.
That's how I really fell into social
psychology." He attended SUNY
from 1977 to 1981 for a total of
ten years of full time school. He
emphasized, "Don't be afraid if
you do not follow the course that
you start out with, just follow a
course."
Rosenfeld began teaching at
astronomy are often confused.
Astrology was the belief of the
Chaldean and Babylonian priests
that the positions of the planets
(the Greek word for "wanderer,"
it refers to the planets), which
were considered gods, would
determine the fate of persons
born when the sun was in such
and such a house. Astronomy is a
true natural science, which studies
the structure and motions of the
visible universe.
When people find out about my
being an amateur astronomer, the
most probably asked question is
"How in the heck can you look up
in the sky and make pictures, and
know that you're looking at the
right stars?" The second most
asked question has to be "How do
you know where the galaxies and
nebulae are?" The answeis to
both questions are simple. To be
totally honest, we cheat. You have
to remember that the constella
tions were named by the ancients,
and life was very different than
today. To put an end to the confu-
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sion caused by trying- to converse
with persons from different coun
tries who have different concepts
of constellations, the Interna
tional Astronomical Union--
lAU, a group of professional
astronomers, made decisions as to
the borders of the constellations,
early in this century. They did
this after the first photographic
sky survey was conducted by the
Mt. Wilson Observatory. The sky
was mapped out onto a globe, as
it appears from Earth. Our lines
of latitude and longitude were
projected onto the surface of this
sphere. These lines called declina
tion (the North-South distances)
and right ascension (the East-
West distances) enable
astronomers to pinpoint exact
coordinate locations on the
celestial sphere. So stars, galaxies
and nebulae have known, exact
locations, just like cities here on
Earth have exact longitudes and
latitudes. There's really no
guesswork about it; all the ob
jects mentioned can be found in
BEHREND COLLEGIAN
Behrend in 1981 and completed his
dissertation and was awarded his
doctorate in Social Psychology in
1982. Rosenfeld has given con
fr -Titw
Dr. Paul Rosenfeld
Professor of Psychology
nual convention of the American
Psychologists Association and has
had several items published in
various circulations in the social
psychology field_ - .
the
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Together with other experts in
his discipline, Rosenfeld com
pleted a two-year project: a social
psychology textbook. It is being
published by West Publishers and
will be out in February. It is entitl
ed, "Introduction into Social
Psychology."
Most recently, Rosenfeld has
been working with Random
House Publishers to write
multiple-choice test banks that
can be used with textbooks. "I
found this very challenging. As I
was working, they decided that
`none of the above' could not be
used as a possible answer. Total
depression set in! But they figured
the students were not receiving a
positive reinforcement. I'm get
ting over my depression now as
they have let me keep in 'all of the
above' as an answer." Random
House would not let Dr.
Rosenfeld use any of his other
sometimes amusing choices for
answers. Is there anyone who has
what we call a star atlas, which as
the name implies is exactly that,
an atlas of the stars.
Getting back to the fact that_we
cheat, what I mean to say is that
no one really memorizes the posi-.
tions of the borderlines between
constellations. Instead, we im
agine connections between certain
stars, just as a guide for
reference. A perfect example is
the constellation Ursae Majoris,
the Great Bear. The British com
monly refer to it as the Plough,
and we Americans as the Big Dip
per. Such a grouping of stars,
which consists of just the brightest
stars, is known as an asterism
(How's that for a Scrabble
word!). Other asterisms are the
Little Dipper, the Teapot in Sag
gitarius (the archer), the W in
Cassiopeia, still others are the
keystone of Hercules, the "Nor
thern Cross" in Cygnus (the
Swan) and the "Great Square" of
Pegasus. If it'll make you feel any
better, when we look up, no we
Free gift with this
Ad or Behrend ID
4445 Buffalo Rd.
K-Mart Plaza East
Erie, Pa. 16510
OCTOBER 12, 1984
taken Psychology 2 from Dr.
Rosenfeld that has not
remembered his tests, or more
importantly, his answers?
Rosenfeld is originally from the
Bronx, NY.- He admits that he
has had a somewhat difficult time
making the transition from New
York to Erie, mainly because of
the winter weather. He also
stated, "Compared to cities of
similiar size, Erie is behind in
times regarding the rebuilding of
the inner city. Opportunities for
cultural activities are limited but
we have accessibility to major
cities in the tri-state area." He
continued, "I do like the lack of
heavy traffic. Everything is
located within a close proximity
so the time saved going from
place to place is a big plus."
Satisfied with his position at
Behrend, Rosenfeld seems glad to
be settled in Erie, and hopefully
he will continue to instruct here
for many years to come.
don't see any lines connecting the
stars the way they're drawn in
Sky & Telescope or Astronomy
magazines, either.
Until next issue, why not try
putting on a coat and see how
many asterisms you can find in
the (hopefully clear and warm)
nighttime skies. But remember,
you won't find any if you go
around hanging your head. So
keep your chin up and your eyes
open for what's up.
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