- #1
CiaoMeow
So I'm about to start my second year of college soon, I'm majoring in physics.
I've noticed that some universities (places like Princeton, MIT, etc) don't have a course on modern physics, where a more superficial treatment is given to things like special relativity, quantum mechanics, solid-state, particle and nuclear physics and the like. They jump into quantum mechanics with a book like Griffiths directly.
Is this normal? Like, if there's no modern physics course, and other than the core subjects (classical mechanics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics), no electives for solid-state, particle and nuclear physics are taken, is it acceptable in this day and age for a physicist to not have any training in these subjects? Of course, not everybody wants to go into HEP or condensed matter physics down the line, but still.
What are your thoughts on this? My colleague from college brought it up and I'm not sure what to think.
I've noticed that some universities (places like Princeton, MIT, etc) don't have a course on modern physics, where a more superficial treatment is given to things like special relativity, quantum mechanics, solid-state, particle and nuclear physics and the like. They jump into quantum mechanics with a book like Griffiths directly.
Is this normal? Like, if there's no modern physics course, and other than the core subjects (classical mechanics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics), no electives for solid-state, particle and nuclear physics are taken, is it acceptable in this day and age for a physicist to not have any training in these subjects? Of course, not everybody wants to go into HEP or condensed matter physics down the line, but still.
What are your thoughts on this? My colleague from college brought it up and I'm not sure what to think.