Course Catalog
The Lehigh University Catalog lists degree requirements, rules for graduation, and other policies and procedures affecting students at Lehigh University. The University normally updates the Catalog on an annual basis, to reflect changes in course descriptions, degree programs, and academic guidelines. Most policies and procedures, aside from degree requirements, are governed by the language in the current Catalog.
Please refer to the catalog entries for physics and astronomy for detailed information about each course offering.
Overview of undergraduate course offerings
Basic physics courses such as PHY 10, 11, 13, 21 give a quantitative introduction to physical laws and concepts that are essential when working in many areas, from chemistry, to biology, to numerous engineering fields.
PHY 31 and other 100-level courses then provide introductions to quantum mechanics, relativity (PHY 142), and examples of applications (PHY 120, 122) of the physics learned in lower-level courses.
Further courses at 200-level and above go deeper into the same physics that was introduced in lower-level courses (PHY 215, Classical Mechanics, or PHY 340, Thermal Physics; PHY 212-213, Electricity and Magnetism), and then provide new important material (PHY 362 and 369, Quantum Mechanics), or other more advanced topics.
Some of these more advanced courses can be taken by students majoring in other fields to augment their expertise in specific topics or to develop the skills needed for a position in a particular area, as an example by taking PHY 362 and/or 369 (Quantum Mechanics) when interested in a career in quantum information science.
Physics majors that follow the whole program may go on to graduate school in physics, often earning the Ph.D. degree. These graduates take university or college faculty positions, or work on research in a variety of university, government, or industrial laboratories. Other physics majors find employment immediately after the bachelor’s degree, in many different fields that value the problem-solving abilities and background of physics students.
Students may also use the physics major as an excellent preparation for graduate study in many other scientific areas, such as optical engineering, biophysics, astrophysics, geophysics, materials science, or engineering areas such as nuclear engineering, electronics, mechanical engineering, and quantum information sciences.
Lehigh offers three undergraduate degrees in physics and two undergraduate degrees in astronomy or astrophysics. The three physics degrees are the bachelor of arts with a major in physics and the bachelor of science in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the bachelor of engineering physics in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The B.A. with a major in astronomy and the B.S. in astrophysics are in the College of Arts and Sciences and are described in the Astronomy and Astrophysics section of the catalog.
When majoring in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences It is possible to obtain a bachelor of arts (more free electives and fewer hours for graduation) in alternative to the bachelor of science (which requires somewhat more physics and mathematics) in the college of arts and sciences.
There are also several five-year, dual-degree programs involving physics: The Arts-Engineering program (see the Arts-Engineering section of the catalog), a combination of the bachelor of science program in the College of Arts and Sciences with electrical engineering, and a combination of electrical engineering and engineering physics (see the Electrical Engineering and Engineering Physics section of the catalog). This bachelor of science in engineering physics in the College of Engineering and Applied Science requires an engineering concentration in either solid state electronics or optical sciences, in addition to regular physics and mathematics courses.