PHYS 4150 Nonlinear Physics and Applications

Name: Nonlinear Physics and Applications
Rating: 3.91 (11 reviews)

This course, designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, brings together several related topics in nonlinear classical physics and dynamical systems. The topics include the BT theorem and its applications to fluid phenomena, an introduction to viscous flows and the Navier-Stokes Equations, nonlinear dynamics and bifurcations, Feigenbaum universality and an introduction to chaos theory and fractals. The course emphasizes applications, and concludes with a discussion of the scaling properties of images, including art, and fractal patterns in music.

Course overview

Department: Physics
School: MCAS
Credits: 3
Level: Both
Offered: Periodically

Requirements fulfilled

Mathematics B.S.: Natural science, computer science, or economics corequisites (Current University Catalog; students should confirm their catalog year)

Requirement eligibility can vary by school, cohort, and section. Confirm the selected section in EagleApps or with an advisor.

Course evaluations

Response-weighted averages from Boston College’s official course evaluations (Avalanche/Blue).

Course rating: 3.91 / 5 · Very Good
11 responses
Instructor rating: 4.09 / 5 · Very Good
11 responses
Terms evaluated: 1
Most recent: Spring 2026

Scales: overall ratings run from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent); agreement questions from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); weekly effort from 1 (up to 1 hour) to 5 (10 or more hours).

Evaluations by term and instructor
Term	Instructor	Course overall	Instructor overall	Well organized	Clear learning objectives	Intellectually challenging	Helpful assignments	Applicable beyond course	Attendance necessary	Weekly effort	Responses
Spring 2026	Andrzej Herczynski	3.9	4.1	4.3	4.4	4.3	4.4	4.4	4.5	1–3 hrs/week	11 of 15

Data freshness

Course and evaluation data last updated 2026-10-09. Source details and limitations are documented in Data Sources and Methodology.

Instructors

Andrzej Herczynski
Spring 2027, Spring 2026 · Official rating 4.09/5

Sections

Section 01
Spring 2027 · Andrzej Herczynski · Higgins Hall 265 TuTh 10:30AM-11:45AM · Offered