Our faculty is committed to giving students a solid foundation in the basics of physics and to teaching students the analytical and problem-solving skills that are essential to any career. Physics classes typically comprise 15 to 25 students, an optimal size that guarantees individual attention. These courses are taught by faculty members who bring their research interests into the classroom.
Explore Physics Courses
The University of Oregon course catalog offers degree plans and a complete list of courses in the Department of Physics. Note that undergraduate courses carry numbers ranging from 101 to 499, while graduate courses carry numbers in the 500 and 600 ranges. 500-level courses may or may not carry graduate credit for physics majors.
Course listings can typically be found in Duckweb or in the UO online schedule of classes.
Featured Courses
PHYS 152 Physics of Sound and Music
Introduction to the wave nature of sound; hearing; musical instruments and scales; auditorium acoustics; and the transmission, storage, and reproduction of sound.
PHYS 155 Physics Behind the Internet
How discoveries in 20th-century physics mesh to drive modern telecommunications. Topics include electron mobility in matter, the development of transistors and semiconductors, lasers, and optical fibers.
PHYS 415 Quantum Physics
Planck's and de Broglie's postulates, the uncertainty principle, Bohr's model of the atom, the Schroedinger equation in one dimension, the harmonic oscillator, the hydrogen atom, molecules and solids, nuclei and elementary particles.