Lecture is a conversation. It is boring otherwise. I encourage all students to be active, ask questions and argue. I want to learn and I love to learn new things. My experience tells me that I learn the best when challenged to answer questions.

Condensed Matter is a vast area. There is no way to cover it in one or two semesters. Moreover it is a very fast developing area. About every 5-7 years something completely new and unexpected appears. So in this class I will try to only cover some of the basic ideas.