1. Department of Physics and Astronomy Michigan State University

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

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

4. 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

5. Nuclear physics National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab Chart of the Nuclides

6. High-energy physics experiments at Fermilab

7. Keck Microfabrication Facility Condensed Matter Physics The SQUID

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. A typical schedule of courses for a first-year student majoring in physics Fall SemesterSpring semester PHY 1703 creditsPHY 1834 credits PHY 1011PHY 1021 MTH 1323MTH 1334 CEM 1514CEM 1523 ATL4BIO4 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