The class of 2010 logged three all-time records, with the highest-ever numbers of astronomy bachelors, physics bachelors, and physics PhDs produced by US colleges and universities.
In 2010 some 382 astronomy bachelor’s degrees were awarded, 19% more than in the previous year and 89% more than a decade earlier; the number of astronomy PhDs awarded remained constant at about 150 a year over the past three years. In physics 6017 bachelor’s degrees were awarded, a 65% increase over the number in 1999. And in 2010 the number of physics PhDs awarded was 1558, up 43% from a recent low six years earlier.
The data were collected as part of an annual survey by the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics. More information is available at http://aip.org/statistics/catalog.html.
