Charles Hailey

Hailey is definitely bad at teaching a large class--he writes lightly on the chalkboard, and often erases or writes over stuff, making it hard to follow. He also explains topics in a much more advanced way, which I guess is expected since he's used to teaching grad students. I can't blame him too much for the lack of structure since he was literally put into this position two weeks before school started. I will say, he is a very kind and passionate professor. I used to dread going to OH for other professors, as they often had an apathetic demeanor whenever I went. Hailey is the opposite--he dedicates SO much time for students to come in whenever needed, and is even willing to meet over Zoom or on his rooftop (lol) to work through the psets. I'd say learn the material from other sources, then work through the hw problems with Hailey, and you'll be fine.

He's a nice guy with lots of enthusiasm about quantum mechanics, but he's not very good at teaching. I found it hard to follow his train of thought, so I ended up memorizing the concepts instead of understanding them. That being said, homework and exam problems usually cover only the easy topics he discusses in class. The rest, as he said, is just for "fun" or general knowledge. If you are a math major, you will suffer. Don't try to understand this class through a math lens. It won't work. Unless you're a physics major or anyone that needs or wants a deep understanding of the topics covered in the course, you'll be okay. The class is fine, and grading is quite lenient.

Chuck Hailey is not a good teacher. He struggles with teaching. Worse, however, is his struggle with interpersonal interaction. He is by far the rudest professor I have ever had, and he frequently discourages students. Taking a class with him was a highly unpleasant experience and in the future I would refrain from taking a class just to avoid having him as a professor. He was also a complete mess, organizationally, and a nightmare as a lecturer. Nobody ever knew what he was talking about except for two kids who had taken more advanced classes than everyone else and would always ask questions, and he would frequently get in some sort of childish rage and start to be really combative with them instead of just answering their questions, to which he often - even admittedly - didn't know the answers. I learned very little in the class, because I spent all my time pouring over poorly organized notes (for lack of a course textbook) to figure out what his pointlessly ambiguous problems were asking for. Chuck Hailey seems like the kind of person who has made a lot of people cry with his words over the years.

Good person, very likeable. Very passionate and caring about his students and their learning. That being said, not a great lecturer in my opinion. It's clear that he wants us to know the material but his lectures are all over the place. I went to every lecture, but never reviewed me notes once because it would be pointless. Some of his examples would be specifically related to astrophysics (since he's an astrophysicist) that would be completely unnecessary for the actual class. It was hard to follow his examples all the way through. He doesn't post lecture notes online. The course itself moves at a quick pace. That being said, I didn't find the class difficult enough to go to any office hours. (Also, I took AP Physics Mech in HS, so I had background knowledge.) Overall, he's not the best but definitely not the worst; like I said, he's very likeable, and I personally found him to be an adorable professor. Also, the class is curved to a B+ so a fair amount of students, I think, get that. He hates giving low grades. (I got a B+, even though I thought I was gonna get an A-)

I took E&M with Professor Hailey at Barnard, and as he explained to us this class went very differently than a large Columbia lecture would. Nevertheless, I thought he was an amazing professor and highly recommend him under whatever circumstances. He is a very inspiring person. He has such a thorough knowledge of physics, and sitting in his class you can tell that he loves what he does, and that is infectious. He successfully can communicate what he knows to students, and if we told him that we didn't understand, he ALWAYS stopped what he was doing and went back and expained until the students understood. He never seemed annoyed to go back and explain anything a student didn't understand. He is very respectful of his students as people-I could go on and on about this but I can also just give the example that once he said in class something along the lines of "I always say that students can be just as smart as professors, it's just that professors have experience in their pockets." He never underestimated the abilities of anyone and he fully recognized when people thought of something really bright. In many ways he is very modest about himself, because from the stories he tells, and his teaching, and his outlook, and what I know of what he has done, he is really a brilliant scientist and thinker and a extremely respectable person all around. Just in terms of work and difficulty…

Hailey is a wonderful lecturer, and a highly facile email tutor. I never went to office hours, he just explained all my questions on email even on weekends and late at night. I am a post-bacc, so I haven't seen math for awhile- but his class was very reasonable. It isn't hard to do well gradewise in this class- the mean is a B (probably due to the fact that some people who are not trying at all may get Cs). I think the median is a B+, so just about everyone is going to get a B+ or better in the class. The midterms are almost exactly like the study sheets he gives, and the first midterm this Fall semester 2005 was not as hard as other reviewers say it was, if you actually listened to the man say in lecture he would test us on nobel prize winners and would include short answer questions. He tells you in class- "this is a problem I love to give on exams" or "i would not be surprised to see this on an exam" so if you pay attention to his lecture- you're as good as gold. Jeremy Carlo the TA was a rockstar- just don't bother emailing him, he doesn't do email. The homeworks were much harder than the exams, don't worry about them- just hand them in, it doesn't even matter what you get on them.

Just a word of caution if you ever take 2801 with this man. Professor Hailey made his intentions very clear at the beginning of the year: first semester exists to weed out those who are not serious about physics. If you can hack your way through the jungle that is K&K, it is clear sailing. You will have a better, more complete and deep understanding of mechanics than any of your peers and some of those 3003 kids. This comes at a steep price: time. Be prepared to spend at least 4-5 hours outside of class for each hour in class. And that is just studying the book and your notes to understand what went on. The homework is a whole other story. As other reviewers noted, Azfar, the TA, is almost solely responsible for the midterms passed, the homework understood and the general good feelings about these classes. The textbooks are, by far, the best introductory physics texts I have seen. They will lead you down trails that you never knew existed and are very readable. Well, the notable exception is that god-forsaken intro waves book "Six ideas that shaped modern physics." So incredibly simplistic as to be laughable after K&K and Purcell.

He's a pretty boring professor. His handwriting is hard to read, and the TAs are slow at getting exams back (though homeworks are given back within a week). Demonstrations are always fun, though. By the way, he drinks Diet Coke. It was a question on the final. If you took AP Physics and had a basic understanding of it, this course will basically be review. There is some new material, like expansion of the universe (mostly for extra credit) and an introduction to quantum physics.

Let me start of by saying I strongly dislike science-- but we do have that pesky requirement, so physics for poets seemed to be the most logical choice for me. Physics became my favorite class of the day and prof. Hailey quickly became the greatest prof I have ever had. No joke, he makes the materiel so interesting and easy to grasp. There is a fine line between being too condescending and not simplifing the materiel enough, and Hailey never dipped into either territory. He is remarkable accessible for such a world renowned physicist. I personally went to his office hours at least once a week with no questions relating to class, just relating to the world and universe at large and he gladly spend hours chatting with me. Once, we were even late for class!! Take a class with him if you can!

I mean, Hailey tried his best to teach me about like, black holes and particle physics. Pretty sure I retained none of it though.