Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.29 GPA, 42.9% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 53.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 66.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades).
Spring 2027
Atomic and Quantum Physics
Advanced quantum mechanics covering atomic physics, special relativity, and applications to molecular, solid state, nuclear, particle physics, and quantum statistics.
offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jeffrey Schmidt3.1/5
Summary
1 / 6
Past student reviews · Thad Walker
One student rated the difficulty at 4 out of 5, indicating a challenging but manageable workload under Thad Walker's instruction.
What you’ll be able to do
Construct and manipulate multi-electron spin states using the principles of quantum angular momentum.
Calculate the effects of perturbations on quantum mechanical systems.
Calculate quantum-mechanical scattering using approximation and expansion techniques.
Quantize the electromagnetic field and calculate quantum states.
Calculate the interaction of light with atoms using the properties of quantized electromagnetic fields.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗ average GPA
665665 letter grades
A33.2%33.2%
AB24.4%24.4%
B26.6%26.6%
BC7.5%7.5%
C5.1%5.1%
D2.4%2.4%
F0.8%0.8%
All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapPHYSICS 448 or graduate/professional standing
“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Any of
- PHYSICS 448
- graduate/professional standing
Professors
Spring 2027Historical instructors & teaching patterns
JEFFREY SCHMIDT is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
THAD G. WALKER is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | Classroom Instruction | 0 / 60 | 0 |
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Thad Walker
A student who took the course with Thad Walker described it as the best class ever and credited the instructor with training them well for graduate school.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 53.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.50 GPA, 66.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.64 GPA, 79.3% A/AB (n=29 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Thad Walker
One student rated the difficulty at 4 out of 5, indicating a challenging but manageable workload under Thad Walker's instruction.
Past student reviews · Thad Walker
Thad Walker told the class he thought of them as his surrogate children, and the reviewer noted that he clearly cared about his students.
Topics
- Atomic and quantum phenomena, special relativity
- Applications to molecular, solid state, nuclear, elementary particle physics, and quantum statistics
- Multi-electron spin states and quantum angular momentum
- Quantization of the electromagnetic field
Skills
- Constructing and manipulating multi-electron spin states using quantum angular momentum
- Calculating the effects of perturbations on quantum mechanical systems
- Calculating quantum-mechanical scattering using approximation and expansion techniques
- Quantizing the electromagnetic field and calculating quantum states
- Calculating the interaction of light with atoms using quantized electromagnetic fields
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
A48.3%48.3%
AB31.0%31.0%
B20.7%20.7%
BC0.0%0.0%
C0.0%0.0%
D0.0%0.0%
F0.0%0.0%
Grades over time
Through Spring 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
UW–Madison
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
Atomic and Quantum Physics
Recorded 2026-10-14Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
"semester": "1274",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
"offering_id": "1274:754:015636",
"course_id": "PHYSICS 449",
"course_uid": "course_636c1d9dd40a99ce616834cd",
"term_id": "1274",
"source_course_id": "015636",
"source_subject_id": "754",
"title": "Atomic and Quantum Physics",
"credits_min": 3,
"credits_max": 3,
"typically_offered": "Spring"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesDataset & model
View the dataset on Hugging Face Recorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "310c269c9fe7934a7c8ec3932d35fc7dcb36bea59c04368faf80bdac6ff8242d",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}