MIT Subject Evaluations

8.511: Theory of Solids I
Fall 1998 Summary

Lecturer: Professor John Joannopoulos

Enrollment: 15
Number of comments received: 14

8.511 is the first half of a two-term graduate level course about the physics of solids. 14 class members responded to our survey, given in the fall of 1998. Overall, these respondents enjoyed the class greatly.

Class members also liked the course content, finding it well-organized with relevant material taught at a reasonable pace. One student pointed out that the class is very theoretical and a heavy math background is required. While one student found the whole class interesting, another liked the first half better, and a third respondent found the last three weeks more interesting. Another commentator found it too specific to the professor's line of research, however. Students did want to have one good reference book.

Class members found the problem sets tedious. They felt that without some of this, the class would have more time to learn the material. The class does have a quantum mechanics section; one student wanted to get rid of this, and another found it painful without a background in quantum. One class member wanted to see more of a connection to undergraduate solid-state physics, another wanted to go over more solid-state phenomena, and a third wanted to see more physical explanations.

Professor John Joannopoulos, the lecturer for this course, received phenomenal reviews from his students. Half of the class described him as excellent; a few others merely found him a good professor. He was described as enthusiastic, friendly, relaxed, and well-organized. However, one student wanted to see more examples given.

Overall, students praised this course fairly highly. While they did not like the problem sets, they found the teaching excellent and the content interesting.

Some quotes from class members:

"Worth taking the class, just because of the professor."

"Although especially the first problem sets kept me busy more than all the other classes together, I am glad that I have taken this class because it is by far my most interesting subject this term."

"It may be possible to demonstrate the same concepts on the problem sets without the tedium and grunge involved in a number of the problems. This way more time is spent learning material rather than looking for sign errors."

"Very interesting, very relevant, all the basics of solid state physics."