Long view of coast with waves beach and mountains

Earth & Planetary Science

Explore the Earth’s interior, atmosphere and oceans, and understand our planet

Learn about our research

Major in Earth & Planetary Sciences

Earth science is one of the broadest and most interdisciplinary of all the sciences.

We rely on and draw upon the core sciences of chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics. In so doing, we explore climate change, meteorology, and oceanography, environmental science, geochemistry, and natural resources including global energy supply, paleontology, evolutionary theory, and the history of life on Earth; and plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes, and planetary science.

Blue marble picture of the earth

Climate Science

Sustainable human existence is inextricably linked to global interactions between the solid Earth, its hydrosphere, its atmosphere, and its biota.

Explore the Courses

Graduate Program

We explore the interaction of chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics and geology in the ongoing effort to explore Earth’s interior, atmosphere and oceans, and to understand the environment in which we live, the causes for global climate change, and the history of life and climate on Earth.

Saldanha Bay, part of South Africa's West Coast

Energy Studies Interdisciplinary Certificate

Energy Studies is an Interdisciplinary Certificate program in Yale College. The curriculum is designed to provide enrolled undergraduates with the knowledge and skills needed for advanced studies, leadership, and success in energy-related fields.

More About the Program

  • 38

    2024 Energy Scholars Certificates

  • 18

    different majors or departments in the University, our most diverse cohort, subject-wise, to date

  • 75

    students from the Class of 2025 have enrolled in the Energy Studies Interdisciplinary Certificate.

Nebulous

Earth & Planetary Faculty in the News