Metadata
Title
Physics & Mathematics Background
Category
general
UUID
dc1f1f99c30c45b5bd7c256f348a3c04
Source URL
https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/physics-background
Parent URL
https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program
Crawl Time
2026-03-09T03:29:08+00:00
Rendered Raw Markdown

Physics & Mathematics Background

Source: https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/physics-background Parent: https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate-program

Graduate students in astronomy must have a substantial background in physics and mathematics. The following list, based on courses at Harvard, is representative of the minimum background the candidate should have acquired as an undergraduate (see course descriptions in Applied Mathematics, Engineering Sciences, and Physics for details):

  1. Mechanics (Engineering Sciences 125 or Physics 151)
  2. Electromagnetic theory (Physics 153)
  3. Statistical physics (Engineering Sciences 181 or Physics 181)
  4. Quantum mechanics (Physics 143a)
  5. General mathematics (Applied Mathematics 104 and 105)