2025-2026 Tentative Offerings

Physics majors should click here to see exceptions to the major requirements.

Core offerings repeat annually as listed (i.e. courses in the PHYS 4, 100, 105, 110, 120, 130, and 140 series).

Not every course is offered annually or even bi-annually.

Summer offerings of PHYS 4A-B are not guaranteed beyond 2025. 

Unless otherwise noted, all courses are offered in-person.

In summer, we typically offer PHYS 1ABC with Labs, PHYS 2ABC, 2BL, and 2CL. Summer offerings of other courses are not guaranteed (check the Online Schedule when it goes live). We do not offer any UD or GRAD physics courses over summer.

Instructors can be selected or changed ight up until the first day of instruction. If "STAFF" is listed that means the instructor has not yet been selected. Regularly check the Online Schedule for updates.

Course 

Title

Fall

Winter

Spring

1AL-BL-CL Mechanics Lab; E&M Lab; Waves, Optics, and Modern Physics Bal, Frano Shotwell, Yang Meyertholen, Ni
1A Mechanics Groisman (A00, B00) STAFF Arlett

1B

Electricity and Magnetism STAFF Smith (A00, B00,C00) STAFF
1C Waves, Optics, and Modern Physics Tsai Tsai Popmintchev (A00, B00, C00)

2A

Physics—Mechanics Shotwell Dudko (A00); Shotwell (B00) Bal
2B Physics—Electricity and Magnetism Barreiro Ni Tan
2BL Physics Laboratory—Mechanics 🚫 🚫 Bal
2C Physics—Fluids, Waves, Thermodynamics, and Optics 

Tan (A00, B00)

Keres Duarte
2CL Physics Laboratory—Electricity and Magnetism Ni Arlett Frano
2D Physics—Relativity and Quantum Physics Sharma STAFF Branson
2DL Physics Laboratory—Modern Physics Butov 🚫 🚫
4A Physics for Physics Majors–Mechanics 🚫

Averitt

🚫
4B Physics for Physics Majors—Fluids, Waves, Statistical and Thermal Physics 🚫 🚫 Hirsch
4C Physics for Physics Majors—Electricity and Magnetism Chivukula 🚫 🚫
4D Physics for Physics Majors—Electromagnetic Waves, Special Relativity and Optics 🚫 Intriligator 🚫
4E Physics for Physics Majors—Quantum Physics 🚫 🚫 Intriligator
8 Physics of Everyday Life 🚫 🚫 🚫
10 Concepts in Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
11 Survey of Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
12 Energy and the Environment Branson Sharma 🚫
30 Poetry for Physicists 🚫 🚫 🚫
39 Physics Introductory Special Topics (see details) 🚫 Arlett  Frano
39L Physics Introductory Special Topics Lab (see details) 🚫 Kleinfeld 🚫
41 Scientific Computing with Python 🚫 Li 🚫
87 First-year Seminar Grinstein 🚫 🚫
100A Electromagnetism I Green 🚫 🚫
100B Electromagnetism II 🚫 Barreiro 🚫
100C Electromagnetism III 🚫 🚫 Barreiro
105A Mathematical and Computational Physics I 🚫 Duarte 🚫
105B Mathematical and Computational Physics II 🚫 🚫 Green
110A Mechanics I Dudko 🚫 🚫
110B  Mechanics II 🚫 Serra 🚫
113/213 Quantum Information is Physical  🚫 🚫 🚫
116/216 Fluid Dynamics for Physicists Diamond, Vergassola 🚫 🚫
120 Circuits and Electronics

🚫

🚫

Yang

122 Experimental Techniques

🚫

🚫

🚫

124 Laboratory Projects

🚫

Arnold

🚫

130A Quantum Physics I 

🚫

Parker

Lin

130B Quantum Physics II Keating 🚫 You
130C Quantum Physics III 🚫 Branson 🚫
133/219 Condensed Matter/Materials Science Laboratory Allen 🚫 🚫
136 Nuclear Physics Grinstein 🚫 🚫
137 String Theory 🚫 🚫 🚫
139 Physics Special Topics (see details) Hirsch (A00); Duarte (B00) Di Ventra, Schuller (A00) 🚫
140A Statistical and Thermal Physics I  Parker 🚫 Serra
140B Statistical and Thermal Physics II 🚫 Arovas 🚫
141/241 Computational Physics I: Probabilistic Models and Simulations 🚫 🚫 Zhao
142/242 Computational Physics II: PDE and Matrix Models 🚫 🚫 🚫
151 Elementary Plasma Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
152A Condensed Matter Physics 🚫 Butov 🚫
152B/232 Electronic Materials 🚫 🚫 Di Ventra
154 Elementary Particle Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
160 Stars and Compact Objects 🚫 Fuller 🚫
161 Black Holes Fuller 🚫 🚫
162 Modern Cosmology 🚫 🚫 Keating
170 Medical Instruments: Principles and Practice 🚫 🚫 🚫
173 Modern Physics Laboratory: Biological and Quantum Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
175/275 Biological Physics Koslover 🚫 🚫
176/276 Quantitative Microbiology 🚫 🚫 Hwa
177/277 Physics of the Cell 🚫 🚫 Dudko
178/278 Biophysics of Neurons and Networks 🚫 Sharpee 🚫
191 Undergraduate Seminar on Physics Yang 🚫 🚫
192 Senior Seminar in Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
200A Theoretical Mechanics I Di Ventra 🚫 🚫
200B Dynamics: Deterministic, Stochastic, Statistical 🚫 🚫 🚫
201 Mathematical Methods for Physics Vergassola 🚫 🚫
202 Estimation and Scaling in Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
203A Advanced Classical Electrodynamics I 🚫 Fogler 🚫
203B Advanced Classical Electrodynamics II 🚫 🚫 Fogler
210A Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics 🚫 🚫 Arovas
210B Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics McGreevy 🚫 🚫
211A Solid-State Physics I Butov 🚫 🚫
211B Solid-State Physics II 🚫 Grover 🚫
212A Quantum Mechanics I Fogler 🚫 🚫
212B Quantum Mechanics II 🚫 Chivukula 🚫
212C Quantum Mechanics III 🚫 🚫 Grover
214 Physics of Elementary Particles 🚫 🚫 🚫
215A Quantum Fields I Shotwell 🚫 🚫
215B Quantum Fields II 🚫 McGreevy 🚫
215C Quantum Fields III 🚫 🚫 McGreevy
215D Selected Topics in Quantum Fields 🚫 🚫 🚫
217 Field Theory and the Renormalization Group 🚫 🚫 🚫
218A Plasma Physics I 🚫 🚫 🚫
218B Plasma Physics II 🚫 🚫 🚫
218C Plasma Physics III 🚫 🚫 🚫
220 Group Theoretical Methods in Physics Arovas 🚫 🚫
221A Nonlinear and Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Physical Systems 🚫 🚫 🚫
222A Experimental Methods for Particle Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
225A General Relativity Flauger 🚫 🚫
225B General Relativity 🚫 🚫 🚫
225C General Relativity 🚫 🚫 🚫
227 Cosmology 🚫 🚫 Fuller
228 High-Energy Astrophysics and Compact Objects 🚫 🚫 🚫
230 Advanced Solid-State Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
233 Collider Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
235 Nonlinear Plasma Theory 🚫 🚫 🚫
237 Introduction to the Standard Model and Beyond 🚫 🚫 🚫
239 Special Topics Hirsch (A00); Duarte (B00); Intriligator (C00) Goldenfeld Goldenfeld
243 Stochastic Methods 🚫 🚫 🚫
244 Parallel Computing in Science and Engineering 🚫 🚫 🚫
250 Condensed Matter Physics Seminar Hirsch Hirsch Hirsch
251 High-Energy Physics Seminar Grinstein Grinstein Grinstein
252 Plasma Physics Seminar Diamond Diamond Diamond
253 Astrophysics and Space Physics Seminar Fuller Fuller Fuller
254 Biophysics Seminar Serra Serra Serra
255 Biophysics Research Talks Hwa 🚫 Hwa
257 High-Energy Physics Special Topics Seminar 🚫 🚫 🚫
258 Astrophysics and Space Physics Special Topics Seminar 🚫 🚫 🚫
259A Methods in Quantitative Biology 🚫 🚫 Hwa
259B Concepts and Methods in Quantitative Physiology 🚫 🚫 🚫
260 Physics Colloquium Shpyrko 🚫 🚫
261 Seminar on Physics Research at UC San Diego 🚫 🚫 🚫
264 Scientific Method Seminar 🚫 🚫 🚫
270A Experimental Techniques for Quantitative Biology 🚫 🚫 🚫
270B Quantitative Biology Laboratory 🚫 🚫 🚫
273 Information Theory and Pattern Formation in Biological Systems 🚫 🚫 🚫
274 Stochastic Processes in Population Genetics 🚫 🚫 🚫
279 Neurodynamics Silva 🚫 🚫
281 Extensions in Physics 🚫 🚫 🚫
282 Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Biological Systems Hwa 🚫 🚫
500 Instruction in Physics Teaching  Bal, Shotwell 🚫 🚫