L&S MAJORS

Thinking Quantitatively and Abstractly

Berkeley has long been one of the world's leading centers in the physical sciences, with highly ranked departments in all disciplines and many distinguished professors, including several recipients of the Nobel Prize.

Now is a glorious time to be a physical sciences student at Berkeley. Even as an undergraduate, you can help attack the most fundamental unsolved problems - with chalk and computer, with small-scale equipment, at an international facility, or on field trips. Berkeley physicists, chemists, and students are currently working together to create nanoscale devices out of individual atoms and molecules. Constructed from materials such as carbon, these devices may lead to revolutionary new technologies.

Astronomers and astrophysicists are transforming our view of the universe and its origin. Their recent discoveries tell us that space is flat, not curved, and that our solar system is not unique. Within your lifetime we may well discover life - at least at the cellular level - on Jupiter's moons or in the polar caps of Mars. Earth and planetary scientists learn what drives mountain building and earthquakes, how the earth's climate has changed throughout time, and how landscapes erode and evolve. Berkeley researchers solved the mystery of the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago and discovered a crater left by the asteroid that caused the catastrophic impact.

Mathematics is both the most abstract and the most practical of human endeavors. At Berkeley, mathematicians have regularly garnered Fields Medals, the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize. One of Berkeley's current medalists expanded our understanding of the theory of knots. Another faculty member played an important role in the solution of Fermat's last theorem, a famous, simply stated problem that had defied solution for three centuries. Statisticians and probability theorists at Berkeley helped develop the modern theory of inference. They collaborate with biologists in genomics, with geophysicists in seismology, with governmental agencies in judging the adequacy of the census, and with computer scientists and engineers on theoretical questions ranging from random graphs to the speed of convergence of computer algorithms.

Some of the most challenging unsolved problems lie at the intersectionsof traditional disciplines, as well as with engineering, biology, and chemistry. To further this collaborative work, Berkeley has created centers in atmospheric and planetary sciences and is developing initiatives in nanoscience and the health sciences.

Whatever field you choose, you will experience the rapid pace of discovery - from the smallest to the largest scale in the universe. You will learn to formulate problems clearly and think quantitatively, critically, and abstractly - an outstanding foundation for advanced study, for any future career, and for becoming an educated citizen.

- DEAN MARK RICHARDS

Mark Richards is a professor of Earth and Planetary Science and Dean of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences. He specializes in understanding the internal dynamics of Earth and the other terrestrial planets.