Course catalogue
The Programme
A four-year bachelor's programme following MIT's undergraduate physics curriculum, from classical mechanics to the early universe, with a fifth, graduate year. Every lecture of every course is covered, in MIT's own order; the fourth year is cosmology, and the fifth adds dark matter, structure formation and general relativity at graduate level.
Year I Mechanics, electromagnetism and calculus
Motion, forces, energy, gravity and orbits; electric and magnetic fields and light; and the calculus of one and several variables that physics is written in.
Year II Waves, relativity, the quantum, and the mathematics behind them
Oscillations and waves, special relativity and the quantum physics of atoms and light, with differential equations and linear algebra.
Year III Statistical and advanced quantum physics
Temperature, entropy and blackbody radiation; the deeper quantum mechanics behind atoms, nuclei and particles in the hot early universe.
Year IV Cosmology
The early universe: expansion, the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background, the thermal history, dark energy and inflation — MIT's undergraduate cosmology course, the destination of the bachelor's core.
Year V Graduate year: astrophysics and general relativity
Dark matter, the growth of structure and general relativity in full. Both courses in this year, 8.902 and 8.962, are graduate-level courses at MIT, usually taken after the bachelor's core (Years I–IV).