I only know three astrophysicists personally. (Destiny)

by Claude Errera , Friday, May 22, 2015, 19:37 (3270 days ago) @ Funkmon

How do you know TONS? This is a serious question. I know one at my former university doing research on black holes, zero at my current (they're just astronomers or physicists), one from University of Michigan, and one who technically does geophysics but on other planets. I hover around astronomy circles, am a member of a few astronomy organizations, and still am only well acquainted with three.

I'm talking real people who got an astrophysics PhD or do actual astrophysics research. For example, a friend of mine got her BS in astrophysics, but has a PhD in astronomy and teaches astronomy. She is not an astrophysicist, and calls herself an astronomer.

Those real astrophysicists are exceedingly rare. As in, I bet in the US there's maybe a thousand.

Are our definitions different, or do you have a life where you actually know lots of astrophysicists? If the latter, please tell me how!

lol - 'tons' might be an exaggeration. I knew a few in college (I was a physics major, my advisor specialized in high-energy physics, dabbled in astrophysics, some of his buddies were pure astrophysics folks). I have no clue what their degrees were in - I just knew what they taught. (I also knew a bunch of students studying astrophysics - but they were mostly undergrads, so I guess they don't meet your criteria.)