On TopSchoolsintheUSA.com, you can learn what the top-ranked physics colleges and universities are in California, and compare the best physics colleges, and get the latest ranking of best schools for physics in California. From the following table, please see full list of top 11 graduate schools of physics in California including school information and contact profile.
| RANKING | GRADUATE PHYSICS |
| 1 | California Institute of Technology, Division of Physics, Mathematics & Astronomy Address: 103-33, Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626) 395-4244 Email: donnad@caltech.edu Website: http://www.pma.caltech.edu |
| 2 | Stanford University, Department of Physics Address: Varian Physics Room 108, Stanford, CA 94305-4060 Phone: (650) 723-4344 Email: phys-admissions@lists.stanford.edu Website: http://www.stanford.edu |
| 3 | University of California–Berkeley, Department of Physics Address: 366 LeConte Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-7300 Phone: (510) 642-7166 Email: fhellman@physics.berkeley.edu Website: http://www.physics.berkeley.edu |
| 4 | University of California–Santa Barbara, Physics Department Address: Broida Hall, Mail Code 9530, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530 Phone: (805) 893-3888 Email: gradapp@physics.ucsb.edu Website: http://www.physics.ucsb.edu |
| 5 | University of California–San Diego, Department of Physics Address: 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0354 Phone: (858) 534-3290 Email: hford@physics.ucsd.edu Website: http://www-physics.ucsd.edu |
| 6 | University of California–Los Angeles, Department of Physics and Astronomy Address: Box 951547 , Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 Phone: (310) 825-3440 Email: apply@physics.ucla.edu Website: http://home.physics.ucla.edu |
| 7 | University of California–Davis, Department of Physics Address: 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 Phone: (530) 752-1501 Email: grad-info@physics.ucdavis.edu Website: http://www.physics.ucdavis.edu |
| 8 | University of California–Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy Address: 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697-4575 Phone: (949) 824-6911 Email: physgrad@uci.edu Website: http://www.physics.uci.edu |
| 9 | University of California–Santa Cruz, Physics Department Address: 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone: (831) 459-2301 Email: gradadm@ucsc.edu Website: http://physics.ucsc.edu |
| 10 | University of California–Riverside, Department of Physics and Astronomy Phone: (951) 827-5332 Email: kenneth.barish@ucr.edu Website: http://www.physics.ucr.edu |
| 11 | University of Southern California, Department of Physics and Astronomy Address: Seeley G. Mudd, Room 412 , Los Angeles, CA 90089-0484 Phone: (213) 740-8685 Email: PhysDept@usc.edu Website: http://physics.usc.edu |
Southern California
Southern California includes several very different geographic regions: the Transverse Mountains, the Baja California Mountains (Peninsular Mountains), the Los Angeles Basin, the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, and the Channel Islands.
Southeast California is occupied by the Mojave Desert (also located in neighboring Nevada and Arizona). It is very hot and there is practically no rainfall, the land is mostly barren, covered with salt marshes, sand dunes and poor vegetation. Perhaps the most well-known representative of the flora of the Mojave Desert is the short-leaved yucca (or tree of Jesus), which is considered an indicator of the boundaries of the desert.
In the northeast of Mojave is the Death Valley National Park, the largest in terms of area in the continental United States (more than 13,600 km2 ). These are very hot and arid lands covered with mountains, salt marshes, sand dunes. It was in the Death Valley region that the highest temperature in the United States was recorded in 1913 – 56.7 ° C, in the summer months temperatures above 50 ° C are not surprising.
On the territory of Death Valley there is a unique natural object, the dried-up lake Racetrack Playa. It is known for its “sailing stones” that move across the surface without human (or animal) assistance, leaving clearly visible footprints. It is believed that the stones are moved by the strongest (up to 150 km / h) winter winds, but no one has yet been able to photograph this phenomenon.
More than 800,000 tourists visit Death Valley National Park every year, attracted by its wildlife and picturesque scenery.
In addition to Death Valley in California, in the Mojave Desert, there is also the Mojave National Reserve, known primarily for its high (more than two hundred meters) sand dunes.
In the west of the Mojave Desert are the San Andreas and Garlock geological faults, which are the boundary of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. They outline the boundaries of the Antelope Valley, named after pronghorn antelopes, huge herds of which lived here at the end of the 19th century. Antelope Valley is extraordinarily beautiful during the flowering of the California poppy.
The Mojave Desert has a dry climate with very strong seasonal fluctuations, often referred to as extreme. It is cold here in winter (sometimes the temperature drops to -18°C), strong winds often blow, sometimes bringing rain and snow. Already in May, the temperature exceeds 30-35°C, and in summer the thermometer in some regions of the Mojave Desert crosses the 50°C mark. There is practically no precipitation during the summer months, but thunderstorms are frequent. In the city of Baker, San Bernardino County, located in the Mojave Desert, the average temperature in January is from 1°C to 17°C, and in July – from 25°C to 44°C.
The Mojave Desert is separated from the California Valley by the Transverse Mountains (so named because of their latitudinal extent, as opposed to the Coast Ranges). Stretching along the San Andreas Fault and formed by the collision of lithospheric plates, they consist of the San Bernardino, San Gabriel, Sierra Madre, San Rafael, Santa Monica and other ridges. The highest point of the Transverse Mountains is Mount San Gorgonio (3,506 meters above sea level). Many rivers in Southern California originate on the slopes of the Transverse Mountains, including the Salinas, Cayama, Santa Ynez, and others.
The Transverse Mountains are covered with shrubs (chaparral) and forests, and the reserves (National Forests) of Angeles and Los Padres are located here. In the Transverse Mountains, you can see many wild animals, including rare species. Black (American) bears, cougars, lynxes, deer, coyotes, peregrine falcons, very rare Californian condors live here.
The Transverse Mountains are characterized by a temperate humid climate near the ocean coast and drier and hotter in the east of the region. Fires pose a very big threat to the forests of the Transverse Mountains (as well as to many other regions of California), some parts of the reserves are closed to visitors during the dry summer months.
South of the Transverse Mountains is the lowland formed by the sediments of the San Gabriel, Santa Ana and Los Angeles rivers, known as the Los Angeles Basin (this is where this huge city, the second largest metropolitan area in the United States, is located). The Los Angeles Basin is about sixty kilometers long and twenty-five wide, with loose sediments deposited here up to ten kilometers deep, making the region highly vulnerable to earthquakes.
The Los Angeles Basin is known for its large oil fields, and in some places, natural asphalt comes to the surface, filling the lowlands with a viscous tar. One of these bituminous lakes, “Rancho La Brea”, is located on the territory of the city of Los Angeles and is famous for numerous paleontological finds.
The Los Angeles Basin has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, with little seasonal temperature variation and pronounced dry and rainy seasons. Most of the precipitation falls in winter and spring as rain, snow is very rare. The average January temperature in Los Angeles is between 9°C and 20°C, while in July it is between 18°C and 29°C.
Further south along the coast are the mountains of Baja California (Peninsula Mountains). This group of mountain ranges includes the Laguna, Santa Anna, San Jacinto and others. The mountains of the Peninsula are covered with shrubs and forests (mainly pine and oak), the Cleveland National Forest (reserve) is located here.
The Baja California mountains region has a warm and relatively dry Mediterranean climate, with little seasonal temperature variation and distinct dry (summer months) and rainy (November to March) seasons. The city of San Diego, which has one of the best climates in the United States, averages January temperatures between 10°C and 19°C and August between 20°C and 25°C.
Off the coast of Southern California is a chain of eight Channel Islands, five of which form the Channel National Park. The Channel Islands have a very mild subtropical climate, in the only more or less large village of Avalon on the islands, the temperature in January is from 9 ° C to 17 ° C, in August – from 16 ° C to 23 ° C.
In the extreme southeast of California is the Colorado Desert, part of the greater Sonoran Desert, located mostly in Arizona and Mexico. The Colorado Desert is often referred to as the “low” desert (as opposed to the “high” Mojave Desert, which has significantly higher average elevations). This is a very dry and hot region, there is almost never frost here. In the city of El Centro, Imperial District, the average temperature in January is between 5°C and 21°C, and in August between 25°C and 41°C.
The Colorado Desert is home to the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, which, due to their hot climate and abundant irrigation, are important agricultural areas in Southern California.
In the Colorado Desert (and part of the Mojave Desert) is the Joshua Tree (Jesus Tree) National Park, named after the dominant plant species here – the short-leaved yucca. The magnificent and unusual landscapes of the park attract many tourists, and numerous rocks are very popular with California climbers.
In the Salton Lowlands in the Colorado Desert is California’s largest lake, the Salton Sea. Its length is about 55 km, its width is about 25 km, its area is about 970 km2 , and its depth reaches 16 meters. The lake is located 69 meters below sea level, and the water in it is more salty than in the Pacific Ocean.
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when heavy rainfall caused the Colorado River (which runs the southeastern border of California) to break its dams and create new channels. For two years, until the dams were restored and the river returned to its old course, the Salton Basin filled with water, forming a lake.
Flooding problems caused by the Colorado River floods were resolved by the construction of the Hoover Dam, and the Salton Sea became another California tourist attraction. In addition, the Salton Sea has become home to a huge number (more than four hundred species) of waterfowl, forming a unique ecological system.