Physics

This course introduces astronomy. it begins by looking at stars as the beuty and wonder of the universe and important astronomical phenomena. Other topics include the moon and planetary phases; solar and lunar eclipses; ancient Chinese astronomy; history of astronomy in Europe; comests meteorites, and meteor showers; and modern astronomical observation techniques. This courses is conducted in Chinese, but uses an English textbook by Carl Sagan.

This course introduces general physics and provides basic understanding of classical mechanics, rotation, wave, and thermodynamics. Topics include units; linear and circular motion; gravity; wave, and thermal physics. 

This course provides the necessary mathematical skills for other physics courses. Topics include: complex numbers and hyperbolic functions; single-variable calculus; Taylor series; first order and second order ordinary differential equations; vectors and matrices; eigenvalues and eigenvectors; partial differentiation; multiple integrals; and physical applications. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

The objective of the course is to teach the student more advanced mathematical tools an d methods that are useful in physics, and to apply these methods on concrete physical systems. Topics include analytic functions, special functions, Fourier analysis: Laplace transforms, ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, and Green's functions. 

This course examines the fundamental laws of physics to biological problems. This concept-context course is structured around two weekly plenary lectures and two tutorials during which relevant biological case studies and examples are used to introduce the fundamental physical concepts essential in the study of biological phenomena. For instance, classical mechanics is applied to investigate oscillations important for the perception of sound, continuum mechanics to describe the flow of developing tissue, and statistical physics to investigate random motion of molecules. Although the language of physics is mathematics, the emphasis of the course is on physics, not mathematics. Students are introduced to the fundamental tools for quantitative descriptions, study different branches of physics, and learn to apply them to biological problems. Throughout the course, students engage with the material in a diverse set of assignments and computational exercises. This learning-by-doing strategy teaches students how to use considerations based on fundamental physical principles to develop a quantitative intuition about biological systems. Individual e-assessments enable students and teachers to monitor knowledge and understanding as the course progresses.

This calculus-based course provides a firm foundation in physical concepts and principles, covering kinematics and dynamics, fluids, elasticity, wave motion, sound, ideal gases, and heat and thermodynamics. Applications of physical concepts are stressed, particularly those related to biological and medical phenomena as well as those forming the basis of much of modern technology. Students gain further insight into the physics taught by carrying out a series of laboratory experiments and learning how to analyze and interpret the data. This is an intensive module requiring good mathematical skills, including algebra and trigonometry and a knowledge of vectors and of differential and integral calculus.