The Fall 2019 UMD Physics program at ISI Florence, in its second year, has twelve Maryland students, taking four courses that Physics and Astronomy majors typically may take in their third semester.

The courses are Modern Physics, Electricity and Magnetism Laboratory (building an AM radio), Mathematical Methods for Physics, and Linear Algebra. The program is part of the Education Abroad experience and therefore credits transfer back automatically on the student’s transcript.

A highlight of the UMD STEM program at ISI Florence is the visit to CERN, the European high-energy laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

Students descended into the experimental cave of the CMS, one of the largest detectors for particle physics ever built.

In late September, during yet another exciting site visit, students had the opportunity to view Galileo Galilei’s original notebooks at the National Central Library of Florence (Italian: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze BNCF), the largest library in Italy and one of the most important in Europe.

Florence is the place that saw the birth of modern science with Galileo; it was in Florence that Fermi had his idea about Fermi statistics. We are planning other visits to nearby laboratories and scientific institutions that will complement the Florentine art and history experience.