Earning a Physics degree at Gettysburg College is an immersive and supportive experience where students are encouraged to explore, question, and discover alongside dedicated faculty mentors. You’ll learn in small classes that emphasize collaboration and hands-on experimentation, from studying the motion of everyday objects to probing the mysteries of the cosmos in the campus planetarium or observatory. Here you'll find a close-knit community where students often work together on research projects, share discoveries in labs, and participate in campus-wide science events.
“It is pretty exciting to be in the top 10 of small liberal arts colleges in the nation for producing physics majors” — Professor Kurt Andresen.
Hands-On with Physics
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Jump to level: All Physics courses
What is it like studying physics at Gettysburg College?
You’ll have a unique opportunity to work with cutting-edge equipment while receiving one-to-one support from our dedicated faculty. In advanced labs, students replicate Nobel Prize–winning experiments, build experimental setups from scratch, develop computational skills using programming languages, and work hands-on to build vital skills coveted by employers. In theory courses, students are challenged to relate highly esoteric concepts to the world around them while building meaningful friendships within our welcoming community of physics students. Most of our students participate in at least one research project before their senior year, either with a member of the faculty or off campus at a national laboratory.
Planetarium and Observatory
Like working with your hands?
Take one of our advanced labs. We offer an electronics course (that fills up fast!) where students learn to solder, design circuits, and creatively develop their own projects. We also offer a quantum optics course to study, for instance, single photon events!
Undergraduate research
The physics major at Gettysburg places a significant focus on research. This means that you have the option to participate in independent research, off-campus research, and student and faculty research.
Physics majors may also gain valuable, real-world experience as a student assistant within the Physics Department through the following roles:
- Laboratory Assistants
- Laboratory Equipment Set Up
- Research Assistants
- Special Services
- Student Checkers
Students interested in becoming a student assistant are encouraged to speak with a physics faculty member at the start of each academic semester.
Note: All of our majors do research and write a thesis through our capstone course, Phy420. Some students continue their summer research projects while others work with the Phy420 professor on a new project during the semester.
We learn by doing, so we ask all our students to learn physics by doing physics!
The Hatter Planetarium
Since its development in 1966, the Hatter Planetarium has served the Gettysburg College campus and surrounding community through immersive, free planetarium shows such as “The Sky This Month,” which provides information about upcoming celestial events and astronomy news. This exciting planetarium offers both public and private group shows for schools and community groups from September to mid-May. The Hatter Planetarium also serves as a fully functional classroom.
The Observatory
Located on the northwest edge of the Gettysburg College campus, this unique installation is used for imaging and photometry of variable stars. The dome houses:
- A 16-inch f/11 computer-controlled Ealing Cassegrain reflector
- An Ealing 16-inch Cassegrain telescope equipped with a sensitive, thermoelectrically cooled CH350 CCD Photometrics camera
- Six Meade telescopes
- Three 8-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes
- One 10-inch GPS LX200 telescope
- One 8-inch GPS LX200 telescope
- One 7-inch Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope
- An adjacent classroom that functions as a workspace containing a collection of maps and charts of the skies to assist with sky observation
The Machine Shop
The Gettysburg Machine Shop is devoted to unique student and faculty research. It includes power machinery such as band saws, drill presses, lathes, and a new milling machine. The Machine Shop is also an excellent resource for physics students looking to conduct their senior project.
Strong Gettysburg alumni network
All physics students have access to the Gettysburg Network via the connectGettysburg platform. Serving as the College’s online engagement, networking, and mentoring platform, connectGettysburg offers endless connections for networking with Gettysburg’s more than 32,000 alumni.
Career options with a physics degree?
Our students pursue diverse careers in medicine, government, business, law, engineering, and physics research.
The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree is great for students who want to pursue further education or careers in science. The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree is perfect for those wanting to pursue multiple majors at Gettysburg College (e.g., music and physics) or a Physics Concentration. The physics minor is useful for those looking to compliment or enhance another major (e.g., Chemistry major with Physics minor) in preparation for a more advanced program such as medical school.
Gettysburg’s physics majors have gone on to work in fields such as astronomy, astrophysics, business, education, engineering, law, mathematics, meteorology, physics, and psychology. Whether you seek a B.A. or B.S in physics, you’ll have ample career options to choose from.
Explore career options to learn more about post-Gettysburg employment.