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Modernization and Growth (1959-1979) This period saw the expansion and modernization of the department and
the physics curriculum. Philip Barnhart (astronomy; MA, Indiana University; later PhD The Ohio State University) was appointed Lecturer (part time) in February 1959, and also became Director of the Weitkamp Observatory, succeeding Zechiel. Barnhart was then working for the OSU Research Foundation on infrared astronomy, and pursuing his PhD. In fall 1959, E. Paul Matthews (BA, Ohio Wesleyan University; MA, Ohio State University) was hired to succeed McCloy. Donald Molyneux (MA, University of Bu↵alo) was then hired in 1960 in a “package deal” with the Evangelical United Brethren Church – “three ministers to liven up the faculty” [1]. According to Phil Barnhart, Molyneaux had a master’s degree in physics dated 1940, no physics experience since, and a lassitude toward advancement, improvement, and cooperation that was to prove intolerable to those of us trying to build a department. The departmental faculty was thus entirely new to Otterbein: Matthews (Chair), Molyneux, and Barnhart (part time). Barnhart became a full-time faculty member in the fall of 1961. However, at the end of that academic year Matthews departed Otterbein to return to rocket 37
