Physics and Astronomy Department
Welcome to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Amherst College! The Amherst Physics and Astronomy program's main mission is to teach physics and astronomy to the full range of undergraduates at the College. This includes the program for physics majors, in which we provide the students with a solid foundation in both theoretical and experimental physics. Our commitment to physics as a liberal arts subject leads us to stress the conceptual, historical and philosophical context in which the important ideas of contemporary physics arose. At the same time, we aim to provide our majors with a strong technical and mathematical basis for further study of physics or closely related fields such as astrophysics, biophysics, materials science, nanoscience and engineering. The study of physics also provides excellent preparation for many other professional careers from medicine to science writing to secondary-school teaching.
We are located on the first and second floors of the Merrill Science Center. The main Department office is 214 Merrill. We can be contacted at 413-542-2251. You may also reach the department by sending an email to the Physics/Astronomy Chair.
Use the links to the left to explore the site. You can return here by clicking on the banner at the top of each page. If you would like any more information about the Physics and Astronomy Department, ask Ellen Feld and she will pass your query on to the appropriate person.
Department News
Citation:
"For his ground breaking experimental investigations of Bose-Einstein condensates and the dynamics of quantum vortices and for his enthusiastic inclusion of undergraduates in his research."
