The concentration in Physics, administered by the Department of Physics, serves a variety of goals and interests. A concentration in Physics provides a foundation for subsequent professional work in physics, and also for work in computer science, astronomy, biophysics, chemical physics, engineering and applied physics, earth and planetary sciences, geology, astrophysics, and the history and philosophy of science. Less obviously perhaps, the intellectual attitudes in physics — blending imagination, prediction, observation, and deduction — provide an excellent base for subsequent graduate work in professional schools of medicine, education, law, business, and public administration. Students are also eligible to apply for an A.B./A.M. degree program.
Graduate education in physics at Harvard offers students exciting opportunities extending over a diverse range of subjects and departments. In the Department of Physics, graduate students work in state-of-the-art facilities with renowned faculty and accomplished postdoctoral fellows. The department’s primary areas of experimental and theoretical research include atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, condensed-matter physics, computational physics, the physics of solids and fluids, biophysics, astrophysics, statistical mechanics, mathematical physics, high-energy particle physics, quantum field theory, string theory, and relativity.