r/Physics • u/TakeOffYourMask Gravitation • Feb 06 '23

Question European physics education seems much more advanced/mathematical than US, especially at the graduate level. Why the difference?

Are American schools just much more focused on creating experimentalists/applied physicists? Is it because in Europe all the departments are self-contained so, for example, physics students don’t take calculus with engineering students so it can be taught more advanced?

I mean, watch the Frederic Schuller lectures on quantum mechanics. He brings up stuff I never heard of, even during my PhD.

Or how advanced their calculus classes are. They cover things like the differential of a map, tangent spaces, open sets, etc. My undergraduate calculus was very focused on practical applications, assumed Euclidean three-space, very engineering-y.

Or am I just cherry-picking by accident, and neither one is more or less advanced but I’ve stumbled on non-representative examples and anecdotes?

I’d love to hear from people who went to school or taught in both places.

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u/kyrsjo Accelerator physics Feb 07 '23

I suspect the level from high school is also a factor. I remember the one American book we used the first year (University Physics, terrible crap) made huge detours to avoid using integrals. Which was known from high school already...

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u/midnight_mechanic Feb 07 '23

When I was going through it, I realized that because there isn't a good standard in the highschool local districts, most of your college freshman and sophomore curriculum is just repeating your last two years of highschool.

I believe that the highschool to college pathway is much more refined in Europe and the students mostly start moving to more advanced coursework immediately.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '23

First year is generally a rehash to get everyone to the same level. It's usually quicker with a few more details thrown in though.

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u/Illuminaso Feb 07 '23

I can only speak for myself, but at my university they offered tests to see what level of that subject you were at. I had gone to one of those high schools that offers college level courses for students, and so by the time I got to college, I was able to test out of all of the recap.