Course Listings and Homepages:

  • PHY V 1051-2, General Physics: This is a two-semester introduction to physics intended for liberal arts students. The lectures are given on the Columbia campus and the labs are at Barnard. It satisfies the Barnard Laboratory Science requirement. It does not fulfill the premedical requirement or the physics requirement for any major.

  • PHY V 1201-2, General Physics: This course is satisfactory preparation for medical school and is appropriate for most non-science major pre-medical students. This course, devoted to algebra-based physics, is taught at Columbia in a large lecture hall setting. It is not recommended for more advanced work in the field. PHY V 1301-2 is similar, but uses calculus.

  • PHY BC 1206, Physics I : PHY BC 1207, Physics II : This is a two-semester, calculus-based introductory sequence in physics. Characterized by modest class sizes, it is designed specifically for Barnard women with a serious interest in any of the natural sciences or mathematics. Moreover, it is especially appropriate for majors in physics, chemistry, or biochemistry, premedical or not. PHY BC 1206 concentrates on Mechanics, while PHY BC 1207 covers Electicity & Magnetism.

  • PHY BC 1208, Physics III: This is the third-semester course on Waves & Optics, which is a follow up of Physics I & II. Barnard students contemplating a major in physics or astronomy should take PHY BC 1206-7 in their first year, if possible, or in their second at the latest, to be followed by the third semester course, Physics III.

  • AST V 1753-4, Introduction to Astronomy I & II: This is an introduction to astronomy, taught at Barnard, intended primarily for non-science majors. The first semester covers topics on the history of astronomy, the apparent motion of the moon, sun, stars, and planets, gravitation and planetary orbits, the physics of the Earth, and its atmosphere, and the exploration of the solar system. The second semester covers topics such as, the properties of stars, star formation, stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis, the Milky Way and other galaxies, and the cosmological origin and evolution of the universe.