Summer Sessions | Courses | Physics

Prerequisites: this course uses elementary concepts from calculus, and students should therefore have some basic background in differentiation and integration. Assignments to discussion sections are made after the first lecture. Basic introduction to the study of mechanics, fluids, and thermodynamics. The accompanying laboratory is PHYS S1291D. NOTE: There are two recitation sessions that meet for one hour each week. The recitation times will be selected at the first class meeting.

Prerequisites: This course will use elementary concepts from calculus. Students should therefore have had some high school calculus, or be concurrently enrolled in MATH UN1101. Taken with accompanying lab PHYS UN1291- PHYS UN1292, the sequence PHYS UN1201- PHYS UN1202 satisfies requirements for medical school. Electricity, magnetism, optics, and modern physics.

Prerequisites: PHYS S1201. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS S1201D. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture, offered Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs 10.30AM-1.30PM.

Prerequisites: PHYS S1201. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS S1201D. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture, offered Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs 10.30AM-1.30PM.

Prerequisites: PHYS S1201. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS S1201D. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture, offered Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs 10.30AM-1.30PM.

Corequisites: PHYS UN1201,PHYS UN1202 This course is the laboratory for the corequisite lecture course (PHYS UN1201 - PHYS UN1202) and can be taken only during the same term as the corresponding lecture.

Corequisites: PHYS UN1201,PHYS UN1202 This course is the laboratory for the corequisite lecture course (PHYS UN1201 - PHYS UN1202) and can be taken only during the same term as the corresponding lecture.

Corequisites: PHYS UN1201,PHYS UN1202 This course is the laboratory for the corequisite lecture course (PHYS UN1201 - PHYS UN1202) and can be taken only during the same term as the corresponding lecture.

Prerequisites: PHYS W1401. Corequisites: MATH V1102 or the equivalent. Electric fields, direct currents, magnetic fields, alternating currents, electromagnetic waves, polarization, geometrical optics, interference, and diffraction.

Prerequisites: PHYS UN1601 Corequisite: MATH UN1201 or equivalent. Temperature and heat, gas laws, the first and second laws of thermodynamics, kinetic theory of gases, electric fields, direct currents, magnetic fields, alternating currents, electromagnetic waves. The course is preparatory for advanced work in physics and related fields.

Prerequisites: the written permission of the faculty member who agrees to act as supervisor, and the director of undergraduate studies permission. Readings in a selected field of physics under the supervision of a faculty member. Written reports and periodic conferences with the instructor.

Prerequisites: (PHYS UN1403 or PHYS UN2601 or PHYS UN2802) and (MATH UN1202 or MATH UN1208) students are recommended but not required to have taken PHYS UN3003 and PHYS UN3007. An introduction to the basics of particle astrophysics and cosmology. Particle physics - introduction to the Standard Model and supersymmetry/higher dimension theories; Cosmology – Friedmann-Robertson-Walker line element and equation for expansion of universe; time evolution of energy/matter density from the Big Bang; inflationary cosmology; microwave background theory and observation; structure formation; dark energy; observational tests of geometry of universe and expansion; observational evidence for dark matter; motivation for existence of dark matter from particle physics; experimental searches of dark matter; evaporating and primordial black holes; ultra-high energy phenomena (gamma-rays and cosmic-rays).

The story of the US nuclear weapons testing program in the Marshall Islands can be viewed as the collision of a powerful nuclear weapons state, eager to aggressively pursue a thermonuclear weapons development program, and an indigenous population in a remote location. After World War II, the Marshall Islands became a US territory, as specified by a UN treaty, and the US immediately initiated a testing program to be conducted in the northern expanse of the islands. The testing was done in an overtly public manner and driven at the time by a Cold War mentality. As a result of the testing, the Marshallese people were both driven away from their homes and lands and exposed to radioactive fallout. A classified human subject health monitoring program was implemented under the name Project 4.1. From these tests, the US government was able to study the effects of nuclear fallout and the correlation to cancer rates in the Marshallese population, exposed at different distances from the test sites and over a time period of decades.

This course is about the violent intersection of science and culture. Students will investigate the Marshallese culture prior to the nuclear weapons testing program and then study the ways in which the culture and people were affected by the program. They will also consider the challenges the Marshallese face today. The course will end on a series of group research projects to compare and contrast the Marshall Islands case with those of other indigenous populations affected by nuclear testing performed by other nuclear weapons states. For the course’s final project, the students will apply the tools learned in this course about nuclear weapons and culture and apply them to the French government’s nuclear testing program in either French Polynesians or Algeria.