Historical instructor

PETER TIMBIE

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.71/5 from 73 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

PHYS104 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Peter Timbie is an okay professor but honestly the entire structure of the course sucks. You basically have to teach yourself everything before lecture and only do examples in lecture. Even though Timbie is ok, it's offset by the other 2 professors because all 3 taught 104 together and switched off each week. Highly recommend going to TAs for help.
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PHYS104 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
He is the best physics professor at UW-Madison (which is not a hard challenge). He is great at explaining concepts and he seems like an amazing grandpa type.
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PHY321 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Nice guy. Funny jokes. Lectures do get boring however as he only teaches the bare basics of topics while the homeworks are much harder.
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PHYSICS 321
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Timbie obviously cares about his students, but he is an extremely poor lecturer. He tends to be disorganized, and his handwriting was literally unreadable. I don't feel that I learned much from Dr. Timbie, and I mostly had to figure things out from the (also poor) textbook.
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PHY207 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He is very nice. I enjoy his lectures, and he is super kind and respectful
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PHY207 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Labs are tedious. Lectures are boring. He goes over stuff like students have known everything and skips slides for no reason.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with PETER TIMBIE

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2025PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2025PHYSICS 104General Physics
Spring 2025PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2024PHYSICS 321Electric Circuits and Electronics
Fall 2024PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2024ASTRON 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2024PHYSICS 202General Physics
Spring 2024PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2023ASTRON 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2023PHYSICS 207General Physics
Fall 2023PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2023PHYSICS 208General Physics
Spring 2023PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2022PHYSICS 207General Physics
Fall 2022PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2022PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2022PHYSICS 104General Physics
Spring 2022PHYSICS 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2022PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2021PHYSICS 104General Physics
Fall 2021PHYSICS 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2021PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2020PHYSICS 104General Physics
Fall 2020PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2020PHYSICS 103General Physics
Spring 2020PHYSICS 199Directed Study
Spring 2020PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2020PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2019PHYSICS 104General Physics
Fall 2019PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2019PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2018PHYSICS 799Independent Study
Fall 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2018PHYSICS 103General Physics
Spring 2018PHYSICS 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2018PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2017PHYSICS 104General Physics
Fall 2017PHYSICS 498Directed Study
Fall 2017PHYSICS 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2017PHYSICS 103General Physics
Spring 2017PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2017PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2016PHYSICS 103General Physics
Spring 2016PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2015PHYSICS 249A Modern Introduction to Physics
Fall 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2015PHYSICS 325Optics
Spring 2015PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2014PHYSICS 247A Modern Introduction to Physics
Fall 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2014PHYSICS 325Optics
Spring 2014PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2013PHYSICS 207General Physics
Fall 2013PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2013PHYSICS 207General Physics
Spring 2013PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2013PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2012PHYSICS 207General Physics
Fall 2012PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2012PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2012PHYSICS 498Directed Study
Spring 2012PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2011PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Fall 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2011ASTRON 103The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology
Spring 2011ASTRON 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2011PHYSICS 299Directed Study
Spring 2011PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2010ASTRON 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2010PHYSICS 299Directed Study
Fall 2010PHYSICS 805Special Topics in Physics
Fall 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2010PHYSICS 208General Physics
Spring 2010PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2009PHYSICS 207General Physics
Fall 2009PHYSICS 298Directed Study
Fall 2009PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2009ASTRON 103The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology
Spring 2009ASTRON 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2009PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2008ASTRON 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2008PHYSICS 498Directed Study
Fall 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2008PHYSICS 207General Physics
Spring 2008PHYSICS 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2008PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2007PHYSICS 498Directed Study
Fall 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Spring 2007PHYSICS 207General Physics
Spring 2007PHYSICS 499Directed Study
Spring 2007PHYSICS 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2007PHYSICS 990Research
Fall 2006PHYSICS 498Directed Study
Fall 2006PHYSICS 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2006PHYSICS 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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