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Department of Physics

Program

  • Minor in Physics

The minor in physics requires four calculus-based general physics courses plus one elective physics course. It is intended to support various majors at our university and also provides the needed physics preparation for graduate study or employment in engineering. Students interested in combining mathematics and physics are encouraged to construct an Individualized Major.

Physics today involves computer-based skills to an extent undreamed of a generation ago and, by emphasizing computing in our courses, we provide students with enhanced career opportunities.

Physics at MIU

Physics study at MIU can be the ticket to employment in an endless variety of fascinating professional adventures.This path is all the more powerful due to the program’s emphasis on both the direct experience and theoretical understanding of human consciousness and its higher states—integral parts of MIU’s physics curriculum. Down through the centuries, the most brilliant and creative physicists have emphasized human consciousness as the foundation for their discoveries. And an exciting momentum has built up beginning in the early 20th century, as theoretical physicists have reached milestones toward a completely unified theory of all the known force and matter fields of nature.

Inspired by the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the physicists at Maharishi International University have proposed that the unified field at the basis of the whole universe is the same as the unified field of consciousness, the experience of which has been recorded in the ancient Vedic literature and revived through the advanced technologies of consciousness, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs.

Now, with the increasingly widespread recognition that consciousness is much more than a localized offshoot of brain functioning, the spotlight is even brighter on physics as a leading discipline in the field of consciousness studies. That same light is also focused on MIU, now taking a leadership role in the field of consciousness studies, especially as we begin to explore the true potential of higher states of consciousness. This means our physics program is in the exciting and unique position of being able to explore new territory – the rich and fertile connections between consciousness, brain research, and the study of physics.

Featured Faculty

john hagelin

John Hagelin, PhDChair of the Department of Physics

john hagelin

World-renowned quantum physicist, educator, public policy expert, proponent of peace, and scientist of consciousness, John Hagelin is professor of physics at Maharishi International University. He helped develop a highly successful grand unified field theory based on the superstring. For this work, he was named winner of the prestigious Kilby Award,  which recognizes scientists who have made “major contributions to society through their applied research in the fields of science and technology.” The award recognized Dr. Hagelin as “a scientist in the tradition of Einstein, Jeans, Bohr and Eddington.”

He has helped bring the Transcendental Meditation technique to hundreds of thousands of at-risk children and adults — from inner-city school children to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress to prisoners to active-duty servicemen and woman. He has significantly increased public awareness of the benefits of the TM technique for addressing critical problems in crime, education, and more.

As a leading proponent of world peace, Dr. Hagelin:

* is Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, a leading science and technology think tank
* is International Director of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace,  an organization of leading scientists throughout the world dedicated to ending nuclear proliferation and establishing lasting world peace
* has shown that large meditating groups can effectively defuse acute societal stress — thereby preventing violence and social conflict and providing a practical foundation for permanent world peace.

For the last quarter century, Dr. Hagelin has investigated the nature and origin of consciousness, including higher states of human consciousness, and has spoken on this topic and major national and international conferences.

Dr. Hagelin received his A.B. Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College in 1975. After completing his PhD at Harvard University in 1981, Dr. Hagelin joined the theoretical physics groups at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), where he became actively engaged in fundamental research at the forefront of supersymmetric unified field theories.

Dr. Hagelin then joined the faculty at MUM, where he established a doctoral program in elementary particle physics and unified quantum field theories. Dr. Hagelin has been published extensively in the area of supersymmetric unified quantum field theories in journals such as Physics Letters, Nuclear Physics and The Physical Review. He has appeared many times on news shows such as ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Meet the Press and in major metropolitan newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. 

David-Scharf

David Scharf, PhD

David-Scharf

Dr. Scharf is a physicist and philosopher of physics, having taught philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Rochester and mathematics and physics at Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Maharishi International University. He received his Ph.D. in 1985 from Johns Hopkins. His current research has to do with consciousness and quantum field theory and especially the nature of time in great literature and in advanced physics. Curriculum Vitae >

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