Chemical Physics
Chemical physics explores the territory where two fundamental sciences converge. Chemistry describes how atoms and molecules combine, react and transform, while physics provides the mathematical and theoretical framework for understanding the forces and energy that govern those processes at the deepest level. Together, they illuminate questions about the nature of matter in all its forms, from gases and liquids to solids and plasmas, and about how electrons, nuclei and molecules interact with radiation and their environment.
This is a discipline that underpins advances in materials science, nanotechnology, spectroscopy, quantum computing and drug design.
This five-year full-time programme at the University of Glasgow covers the area in which chemistry and physics overlap, taking you through the quantum mechanical description of atomic and molecular structure, thermodynamics, spectroscopic techniques and statistical mechanics alongside the experimental and computational methods that make progress in the field possible. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in a different country, to encounter different research traditions and to deepen your engagement with the international scientific community. A typical entry tariff of 216 points reflects the level of mathematical and scientific preparation the programme demands.
The depth of quantitative and analytical training that chemical physics provides is valued across a wide range of scientific and technical careers. Graduates go on to work in research and development in the pharmaceutical, materials, energy and electronics industries, as well as in national laboratories, scientific instrument companies and regulatory bodies. Many pursue postgraduate research, with doctoral study in chemical physics, physical chemistry or condensed matter physics a common and natural progression.
Others move into science communication, patent law, finance or data science, where quantitative rigour and problem-solving ability are in strong demand.