Joseph Melvin Reynolds (16 July 1924, Woodlawn, Tennessee – 11 June 1997, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) was an American professor of physics and a university administrator.[1] [2] He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1958–1959.[3]
Reynolds attended David Lipscomb College (now Lipscomb University) from 1942 to 1944 and then transferred to Vanderbilt University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1946. At Yale University he graduated with M.S. in 1947 and Ph.D. in physics in 1950.[2] His thesis advisor was Cecil Taverner Lane (1904–1991). As a graduate student, Reynolds also taught for a year at Connecticut College.[1] In the physics department of Louisiana State University (LSU), he was from 1950 to 1954 an assistant professor, from 1954 to 1958 an assistant professor, from 1958 to 1962 a full professor, and from 1962[2] to 1965 Boyd Professor. From 1962 to 1965 he was head of the department of physics and astronomy.[1] At LSU he was promoted in 1965 to vice president of graduate studies and research development, in 1968 to vice president of instruction and research,[2] and in 1981 to vice president for academic affairs, holding that position until 1985.[4]
In 1957 Reynolds was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.[5] As a Guggenheim Fellow, he spent the academic year 1958–1959 as a visiting professor at Leiden University's Kamerlingh-Onnes Laboratory.[2] In 1966 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[6] He spent a sabbatical year from 1969 to 1970 as a visiting scholar at Stanford University.[4] Using what he learned at Stanford, he helped to establish LSU's gravitational radiation detection program.[1]
Reynolds helped to formulate U.S. space science policies and their implementations. He helped to initiate the space station's microgravity program and supported the Schiff-Everitt experiment.[1]