Bachelor of Science - Physics

The bachelor's degree in physics at the Goethe University Frankfurt is fundamental and research-oriented. The curriculum consists of a compulsory part, which includes courses totaling 134 CP and the bachelor's thesis (12 CP), a compulsory elective part and one or two minor subjects (compulsory elective and minor subject areas together comprise 34 CP). The demarcation between the latter two areas is flexible; 12-18 CP must be acquired in the compulsory elective part and 16-22 CP in the minor subject or subjects. Depending on their inclination, students can focus either on a broader education outside of physics or on a deeper specialization in a special field of physics. The minor subject or subjects are only chosen during the course of the degree program; they do not have to be specified in the application. A very large number of options are available for the minor subjects, including various subjects in the humanities and social sciences.

The compulsory curriculum consists of two sets of lectures in experimental physics and theoretical physics, practical courses that are based on the courses in experimental physics, and a three-semester cycle of lectures in mathematics. The lecture series in theoretical physics begins in the first semester with an introduction to the mathematical methods of physics. It ends with "Statistical Physics" in the 5th semester. In the 4th semester there is also an introductory course in the field of Computational Physics. The move in experimental physics as well as in theoretical physics otherwise follows the canonical structure of the physics course (classical mechanics, thermodynamics, optics, electricity / electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, atomic, nuclear, high-energy and solid-state physics). All lectures include exercises in which the lecture material is repeated, concretized and deepened using tasks.

To prepare for the bachelor thesis, elective courses are typically completed in the subject area in which the thesis is to be written from the 4th semester. The selection of the area for the bachelor thesis is basically left to the students. As part of the bachelor thesis itself, the students are integrated into one of the department's working groups. All research areas represented in the department also offer bachelor theses. This opens up a wide range of research fields for the students, not only in the focus areas of the department, the physics of elementary and condensed matter, but also in the areas of astrophysics / cosmology, atomic physics, accelerator physics, laser physics, quantum gases, quantum optics and neuroscience. Most of these fields are represented both experimentally and in theory. In many cases, students are involved in international collaborations during their bachelor thesis. Due to the close cooperation of many research groups with the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI, Darmstadt), but also through experiments at CERN and DESY (Hamburg), students can also get a taste of large research institutions during their bachelor thesis.