Department of Physics

It is difficult to describe the personal joy and excitement that comes with a new insight into how the world works on the most fundamental level. To work out and see for yourself how nature weaves its seemingly complex cloth into beautiful mathematical patterns is a continuing source of wonder and personal satisfaction to the student and practitioner of physics. This fascination with how things work is a common trait among physicists, evidenced by their endless tinkering with machines, toys, computers, games, and puzzles. If you share this trait, you may find further study of physics exciting and rewarding, and at Princeton you can do it in one of the world’s leading centers of research and discovery.

As is the case with most subjects, the study of physics at Princeton is quite different from the study of physics in high school. Our sophomore courses will give you a sense of the combination of abstract thinking, applied mathematics, computation, and hard-headed problem solving that we teach our students. Our program of courses is rigorous and demanding, but if you enjoy thinking about and doing physics and you find the sophomore courses interesting and manageable, then you are certainly up to the challenge.

If you lay out the courses required for the physics major (see the departmental Web site for examples), you will find that the standard schedule typically completes all the courses except one elective by the end of the junior year. This is because the core coursework is only half the story for a physics concentrator. With the core courses completed, students are free to explore interdisciplinary areas (such as biophysics), pursue advanced courses, and focus on their own research. Alternatively, the core courses can be spread out to make more room for other pursuits, such as premedical requirements or certificate programs.

With vast technical resources and about as many faculty as physics majors, the Princeton Department of Physics is ideally suited to the University’s independent work requirements. Not only do students get a great deal of individual attention while writing junior papers and senior theses, but the process integrates undergraduates into the research groups and provides opportunities for students to work in the laboratories over the summer. Many students find this research experience, especially the thesis, to be the most rewarding part of the Princeton undergraduate physics program.

Thesis research can be either in theoretical physics (about 40 percent of the students) or experimental physics (about 60 percent). Most of the thesis topics are related to the mainline research of the faculty and graduate students, and work by physics majors is an appreciated part of the overall research effort. Experimental research frequently makes use of the resources that have been assembled by the faculty adviser, including equipment such as high-powered lasers and state-of-the-art electronics design tools; use of international facilities, such as accelerators and telescopes; and access to large, unpublished datasets. Each year several senior theses are published in major physics research journals.

And after Princeton? Most of our students go on to do graduate work. Our experience indicates that they compete very well for admission and financial aid at first-rate universities and do very well in their studies. For students who go on to graduate school in physics, they often become the leaders in their fields, as evidenced by the current careers of our alumni. Students also use their physics training to pursue careers in diverse fields such as engineering, law, medicine, and business, and they do equally well. The quantitative and analytical skills that our students learn and the research skills they develop have general applicability that goes beyond physics.

If you are interested in a career in physics, there is no better place than Princeton to get started. If you love physics but intend to spend the rest of your life in other pursuits, we encourage you use your undergraduate years to explore physics as a “turbocharged liberal art.”