Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University

Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University

Physics is a branch of science… … pure knowledge obtained from research

Science (pure knowledge) leads to technology (applied knowledge). Technology… Electric motors Technology… Electric generators Science… The magnetic force on an electric current Science… Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction

Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University Main research groups • Nuclear Physics, the NSCL • High-Energy Physics at Fermilab and CERN • Condensed Matter Physics • Astronomy and Astrophysics Many students get involved in research projects as part of their education. www. pa. msu. edu

Nuclear physics National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab Chart of the Nuclides

High-energy physics experiments at Fermilab

Condensed Matter Physics Keck Microfabrication Facility The SQUID

SOuthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope The SOAR telescope is a 4. 2 -meter aperture telescope funded by a partnership between the US National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO), the Country of Brazil, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project is fully funded and under construction atop Cerro Pachón at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) in the Chilean Andes. The telescope is being designed to support science in both high quality imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and near infrared wavelengths. The f/16 Ritchey-Chrétien optical design shall deliver a 12 arcmin diameter field of view with a tip/tilt stabilized image through a telescope with 0. 18 arcsec image quality.

A Physics Major as the Preparation for a Career Examples of career choices of MSU physics majors: • Scientific research • Education (college or high school) • Industrial research • Engineering • Computing (software, hardware, or networks) • Law, medicine, business Some of these require graduate or professional school. Physics is a good preparation for many career options.

A typical schedule of courses for a first-year student majoring in physics Fall Semester Spring semester PHY 170 3 credits PHY 183 4 credits PHY 101 1 PHY 102 1 MTH 132 3 MTH 133 4 CEM 151 4 CEM 152 3 ATL 4 BIO 4 PHY 170 Investigations in Physics PHY 101 Concepts in Physics MTH 132 Calculus I CEM Chemistry ATL Writing course PHY 183 Physics for Scientists I PHY 102 Physics computations I MTH 133 Calculus II BIO A course on biology