CAREER AS A

PHYSICIST

In sti tute Re search Num ber 143 ISBN 1-58511-143-0

DOT Num ber 023.061-014 O*Net SOC Code 19-2012.00

CAREER AS A PHYSICISTSTUDYING HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS AND USING YOURKNOWLEDGE TO PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN FUTUREADVANCES IN MEDICINE, COMPUTERS, NATIONAL DEFENSE,LASERS, TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND THEENVIRONMENT

SOME PEO PLE MAY HAVE AN IM AGE OF THE PHYS I CIST-SCI EN TIST AS A SHY,di shev eled ab sent- minded pro fes sor who wears socks that don’tmatch and who would rather talk to a com puter than a real per son.Noth ing could be fur ther from to day’s re al ity. Phys i cists come from allwalks of life, have a wide va ri ety of in ter ests, and are more likely to go to par ties and meet ings than to lock them selves away in a lab o ra toryand for get what day or year it is. In fact, the most fa mous sci en tist the mod ern world has known, Al bert Ein stein, was a phys i cist who had akeen in ter est in many so cial is sues and ques tions.

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Most peo ple en ter the field of phys ics be cause it is a sci ence thatis al most en tirely de voted to the ex plo ra tion of the un known. Phys icsand phys i cists of ten deal with the big ques tions, like “Where did theUni verse come from?” or “What hap pens when you travel at the speed of light?” But they are not con tent with just ask ing the ques tions. They want to find the an swers.

Of course phys ics does not just deal with cos mic ques tions. Thesci ence of phys ics is in volved in nearly all as pects of tech nol ogy andsci ence that have be come the prac ti cal re al i ties of our day-to-day lives. Phys ics has been in te gral to many ad vances in med i cine, com put ers,na tional de fense, la sers, trans por ta tion, en ergy ef fi ciency, and theen vi ron ment.

Phys ics is a fun da men tal sci ence be cause it deals with thefun da men tal el e ments of na ture and life, like force and mo tion,grav ity, elec tric ity, light and heat, and sound. Phys ics also deals withthe ba sic par ti cles of life, from at oms, elec trons, and pro tons to thefun da men tal par ti cles of mat ter known as quarks, which com bine toform com pos ite ob jects like pro tons and neu trons. As a re sult, phys icsis a ba sic build ing block for such sci ences as chem is try, bi ol ogy,med i cine, elec tron ics, and ge ol ogy.

In es sence, phys i cists study how the uni verse works and then taketheir knowl edge and ap ply it to solv ing prob lems. Some have ob vi ousprac ti cal ap pli ca tions con cern ing food and en ergy sup ply, orad vanc ing com mu ni ca tions tech nol ogy. Oth ers deal with morethe o ret i cal prob lems such as how space bends or curves. But, evenwith the more es o teric ques tions, the phys i cist is ul ti mately look ing for prac ti cal ap pli ca tions that will in crease our knowl edge about theworld around us and im prove our lives.

Be cause phys ics is such a fun da men tal sci ence, peo ple withphys ics de grees work in a wide va ri ety of fields and jobs – for pri vatecom pa nies, uni ver si ties, schools, re search cen ters, and gov ern men talagen cies. In fact, a com plete list of the types of jobs that phys i cistswork in would be very, very long. Here is a sam pling of some of thear eas and in dus tries a phys i cist may work in:

Aerospace

Astronomy

Biophysics

Computer system engineering

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Research assistance

High-tech design

Mathematics

Medical products design

Meteorology

Research

Administration

Data analysis

Education

Technical consulting

There are more than 40,000 phys i cists work ing in in dus try,ed u ca tion, gov ern ment and med i cal cen ters to day. Al though thema jor ity are ac tive sci en tists and en gi neers, some have be comelaw yers with a tech nol ogy spe cialty while oth ers have opted forca reers in the mil i tary, sales, law, ac count ing, and med i cine. For manyyears, phys ics has been the do main pri mar ily of men, but more andmore women are en ter ing the field and match ing theac com plish ments of their male coun ter parts. In fact, re cent sta tis ticsshow that young women make up nearly half of all high school phys ics stu dents.

If you are in quis i tive, have an ap ti tude for math, and like to tacklethe tough prob lems, phys ics may be for you. A back ground in phys icscan pre pare you for many ca reers and lead you in many di rec tions,in clud ing the road less trav eled.

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STARTING TO PREPARE EARLY

IF YOU ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND CON SID ER ING A PHYS ICS CA REER, YOU CAN start ex plor ing the ca reer now. Find out as much about the field as you can to make sure that it is the right one for you. Talk to your teach ersand guid ance coun selor. Go to the li brary and read up on the field;your li brar ian can point you in the right di rec tion.

You can also learn a lot through the Internet. Phys i cists, af ter all,have played a ma jor role in de vel op ing com puter tech nol ogy. The Web con tains vast amounts of in for ma tion about the field tar get ingpo ten tial stu dents and the gen eral pub lic. Much of it is sup plied bytop phys ics or ga ni za tions, like the Amer i can In sti tute of Phys ics (AIP)on their Web site http://www.aip.org/. The in for ma tion you find therecan help you de ter mine whether you have the ap ti tude andcom mit ment needed to pur sue a ca reer in phys ics or a phys ics-re latedfield. For ex am ple, the Na tional Aero nau tics and Space Ad min is tra tion, or NASA, has a Web site at:

http://imag ine.gsfc.nasa.gov/YBA/yba-intro.html

This website is de signed to give you the ex pe ri ence of solv ing aprob lem that an as tro phys i cist might face.

One good way to find out if phys ics is for you is to take as manymath courses as pos si ble. You should have some ap ti tude for math,but it is more im por tant that you en joy it and be will ing to work hardon your math skills to im prove them.

Since phys i cists do a lot of re search and work on many ad vancedpro jects in sci ence and in dus try, you should join a sci ence club at yourschool. Also vol un teer for sci ence fairs and other events that re quireyou to de sign and com plete sci ence pro jects. You can also read sci ence mag a zines like Sci en tific Amer i can, which will keep you abreast of thelat est ad vances and give you in sights into where sci ence is headed forin the fu ture.

Talk to your sci ence teach ers and con tact the phys ics de part mentat a lo cal col lege or uni ver sity. They can give you some great in sightsinto the field.

If you are al ready in col lege, you can ask a pro fes sor whose workin ter ests you if you can vol un teer to help in the re search lab o ra tory.Sum mer fel low ships in the field will also pro vide you with valu ableex pe ri ence to help you de cide if phys ics is right for you.

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HISTORY OF THE PROFESSION

THE FIELD OF PHYS ICS AS IT IS KNOWN TO DAY DID NOT BE GIN TO TAKE SHAPE un til the later part of the 19th cen tury. How ever, the prac tice ofphys ics, the study of na ture, dates back at least to 580 BC in an cientGreece, when Thales of Miletus noted a mag net’s at trac tion to rubbed am ber. Around 440 BC, Leucippus of Miletus orig i nated the con cept of the atom. His pu pil, Democritus of Abdera, re fined and ex tended thecon cept. Ar is totle also de scribed the work ings of ce les tial bod ies andother parts of na ture in works called Phys ics and Metaphysics around350 BC (al though we now know he was mis taken in many of hisas sump tions). In 240 BC Ar chi me des de vel oped the prin ci ples ofhy dro stat ics (con cern ing flu ids at rest, es pe cially pres sure in a fluid.)

The field of phys ics was also de vel op ing in other parts of theworld. Around 250 BC, the Chi nese de vel oped the con cept that freebod ies move at a con stant ve loc ity. Ara bian sci en tists would also playan im por tant role in phys ics sev eral cen tu ries later. For ex am ple,around 1000 AD Ali Al-hazen made great strides in the study of op tics, in clud ing re flec tion, re frac tion, and lenses. He also de vel oped apin hole cam era to dem on strate that light trav els in straight lines tothe eye.

For the most part, how ever, early phys ics was largely philo soph i cal and lit er ary in na ture and re lied lit tle on math e mat ics, me chan ics, andex per i men ta tion. Nev er the less, some early phys i cists were sur pris inglyac cu rate in their guesses about as pects of na ture, in clud ing the atomic the ory of Democritus and the he lio cen tric view of the so lar sys temad vanced in 260 BC by Aristarchus, who said that the plan ets re volvearound the sun.

For the most part, the teach ings of for mal phys ics re mainedan chored for cen tu ries in Ar is totle’s in cor rect pic ture of Earth as thecen ter of move ment in the skies and in many of his other er ro ne ousviews about dy nam ics and other as pects of na ture. It was n’t un til1600 and the pub li ca tion of Wil liam Gilbert’s book about mag ne tismcalled De Magnete, that the first known ex ten sive re port ofex per i ments that were con nected and re con firmed ap peared in thehis tory of West ern phys ics. In 1609, Ar is totle’s views of me chan icswere at tacked by Ga li leo, who said the earth was not the cen ter of the uni verse. Ga li leo’s ideas, in turn, were con demned by the In qui si tion in 1616 and 1633. In 1644, René Des cartes Prin ci ples of Phi los o phy wasbased on an im plicit math e mat i cal scheme in volv ing such nat u ral

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phe nom e non as mo tion. Des cartes also said that real phys ics shouldbe based on math e mat ics.

Sir Issac New ton was the first to ex plain many as pects of nat u ralphe nom e non in math e mat ics in his book Math e mat i cal Prin ci ples ofNat u ral Phi los o phy, pub lished in 1687. New ton greatly ad vanced thesci ence of mo tion with an em pha sis on pos tu lates in volv ing theprin ci ples of grav ity, mass, and force. He ex plained the laws of bod iesfall ing to the sur face of the earth, the laws that pre side over themo tion of plan ets around the sun and of sat el lites (moons) around the plan ets, and the laws that gov ern the high and low tides of the sea. Inall, New ton gave sci ence its first uni fied pic ture of the uni verse interms of space and time.

Many ad vances were made in phys ics through out the 18th and19th cen tu ries. The study of elec tric ity, light, and op tics were firmlyes tab lished in the 1700s. Re search into heat and ther mo dy nam ics alsoad vanced when Jo seph Fou rier pub lished his the ory of heatcon duc tion in 1822 us ing a se ries of trig o nom e try cal cu la tions thatbear his name (Fou rier Anal y sis).

By the end of the 19th cen tury, phys ics was rap idly ad vanc ing into the mod ern sci en tific field as it is known to day. In 1873 James ClerkMaxwell dis cov ered the elec tro mag netic na ture of light and pre dictedthe ex is tence of ra dio waves; two years later he pro posed the the orythat at oms must have a struc ture. In 1883 George Fitz ger aldde vel oped a the ory of ra dio trans mis sion, and in 1892 HendrickLo rentz came up with the the ory that elec tric ity is due to chargedpar ti cles. Two years later Hein rich Hertz dis cov ered that ra dio wavestravel at the speed of light and can be re fracted and po lar ized. In 1895 Wil helm Roent gen de vel oped X-rays.

Al though many credit Al bert Ein stein with ini ti at ing the mod ernera of phys ics, an im por tant ear lier con trib u tor was Ma rie Cu rie,whose dis cov ery of the ra dio ac tive el e ment ra dium was a key to aba sic change in the un der stand ing of mat ter and en ergy. Cu rie alsoformed a cru cial hy poth e sis that the emis sion of rays by ura niumcom pounds could be an atomic prop erty of the el e ment ura nium –some thing built into the very struc ture of its at oms. Her hy poth e siswould prove rev o lu tion ary and ul ti mately con trib ute to a fun da men talshift in sci en tific un der stand ing. Af ter Cu rie, sci en tists re al ized that the atom was not the most el e men tary par ti cle of mat ter, a fact that hadal ready been hinted at by the dis cov ery of the elec tron by phys i cist J.J.Thomson.

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Nev er the less, the birth of mod ern rev o lu tion ary phys ics is largelyas so ci ated with Neils Bohr and Ein stein. In 1905, Al bert Ein stein wrotesev eral pa pers that greatly im pacted phys ics and trans formed 20thcen tury sci en tific thought. He es tab lished the spe cial the ory ofrel a tiv ity, pre dicted the equiv a lence of mass (m) and en ergy (e)ac cord ing to the fa mous equa tion e = mc2, where (c) rep re sents theve loc ity of light.

Ein stein also cre ated the math e mat i cal the ory of Brownian mo tion (the ob served move ment of small par ti cles as they are ran domlybom barded by the mol e cules of the sur round ing me dium) andfounded the pho ton the ory of light (pho to elec tric ef fect) for which here ceived the No bel Prize in 1921. By 1920 Ein stein had pub lishedRel a tiv ity, the Spe cial and the Gen eral The ory: A Pop u lar Ex po si tion,which pro foundly mod i fied the sim ple con cepts of space and time onwhich New to nian me chan ics had been based.

In 1910, Er nest Rutherford dis cov ered the nu cleus of the atom,show ing that the atom con sisted of a pos i tively charged nu cleus withneg a tively charged elec trons in or bit around it. Neils Bohr fol lowed upon this dis cov ery in 1913, with his the ory about the struc ture of theatom. Bohr pro posed that elec trons travel only in cer tain suc ces sivelylarger or bits. He sug gested that the outer or bits could hold moreelec trons than the in ner ones, and that these outer or bits de ter minethe atom’s chem i cal prop er ties. Bohr also de scribed the way at omsemit ra di a tion. He sug gested that when an elec tron jumps from anouter or bit to an in ner one that it emits light. Oth ers later ex pandedthis the ory into quan tum me chan ics.

In the 1920s, the for mu la tion of quan tum me chan ics oc curred,and the 1930s saw the emer gence of what be came known as “bigphys ics,” that is, the de vel op ment of ex pen sive and time-con sum ingex per i ments sup ported heavily by in dus tries us ing op tics andelec tric ity. By the 1950s, phys i cists were among the most re spectedsci en tists in terms of pub lic rec og ni tion largely be cause of theirex ten sive re search into ther mo nu clear weap ons and sat el lites. Theen su ing years saw the emer gence of many new spe cial ties, such asap plied elec tron ics.

By the late 1950s, phys i cists such as Rich ard Phil lips Feynmanbe gan to em pha size the aes thetic value of their re search more than its prac ti cal ap pli ca tion. Since this time, the o ret i cal phys ics has gone even fur ther be yond the realm of pure sci ence to raise pro foundphilo soph i cal ques tions con cern ing the na ture of re al ity. For ex am ple,

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in quan tum phys ics, which deals with dis crete and in di vis i ble units ofen ergy called quanta, there is a the ory con cern ing the dual na ture ofphys i cal en ti ties. Quan tum phys ics de scribes quan tum par ti cles andlight as hav ing both wave like and par ti cle-like char ac ter is tics. Ines sence, a quan tum par ti cle that is be ing mea sured (or ob served) actslike a par ti cle. When it is not be ing mea sured it acts like a wave. Thisleads to the the ory that mat ter does not ex ist un til it is ob served!

Phys ics, how ever, is largely a prac ti cal sci ence re spon si ble formuch of the tech nol ogy that is rou tinely ac cepted to day but wouldhave been thought of as “mod ern mir a cles” less than a cen tury ago.With out phys ics, it is highly un likely that dis cov er ies in the last half ofthe 20th cen tury such as the dou ble-he lix struc ture of DNA, thesyn the sis of com plex pro tein mol e cules, and de vel op ments in ge neticen gi neer ing would have ever oc curred.

Phys ics and phys i cists have greatly im pacted many tech no log i calde vel op ments in the later part of the 20th cen tury, in clud ingcon tri bu tions to med i cine, com put ers, na tional de fense, count lesscon sumer goods, tele com mu ni ca tions, la sers, med i cal im ag ing, spacetravel, and much more. Most re cently phys i cists have been primecon tri bu tors to in ter dis ci plin ary ef forts in bio phys ics, solid-statephys ics, and as tro phys ics. For ex am ple, solid- state phys i cists pi o neered the rev o lu tion in in for ma tion pro cess ing. As tro phys i cists are alsobe hind new in sights into the large-scale struc ture of the uni verse andits parts.

To day, phys ics con tin ues to broaden sci en tific knowl edge aboutba sic laws of the phys i cal uni verse, from the laws gov ern ingel e men tary par ti cles to the ir re vers ibly ther mo dy namic pro cesses.

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WHERE YOU WILL WORK

PER HAPS MORE THAN ANY OTHER GRAD U ATES WITH A SCI ENCE DE GREE,phys i cists have an ex tremely wide range of op por tu ni ties fromac a de mia to in dus try to high fi nance. As a re sult, you may work in alab o ra tory, in an of fice, in the class room, or a com bi na tion of theseplaces. You could even end up on the space shut tle!

For the most part, phys i cists who work for in dus try or thegov ern ment spend a lot of time in lab o ra to ries. De pending on the sizeof the pro ject, these lab o ra to ries may range from small one-roomfa cil i ties to large com plexes and spaces. For ex am ple, phys i cists whowork in such ar eas as nu clear and high-en ergy phys ics of ten work with enor mous ex pen sive equip ment, like par ti cle ac cel er a tors. Al thoughphys i cists of ten spend much of their time in lab o ra to ries do ingre search, they also work in of fices, where they plan and de velopre search pro jects, pro pos als, and pre pare re ports.

De pending on your ca reer path, you could end up work ing onWall Street or other fi nan cial dis tricts, where many fi nan cial ser vicescom pa nies seek the ex per tise of phys i cists in com put ers. You couldalso work in a plan e tar ium or even a mu seum that houses aplan e tar ium. Phys ics grad u ates have also gone on to work in themil i tary and even trav eled to outer space as as tro nauts.

Many peo ple with phys ics de grees also be come ed u ca tors, both at the high school and col lege or uni ver sity lev els. In that case, ex pect tospend time in the class room with stu dents im part ing to oth ers yourown knowl edge and ex cite ment about the field.

As to geo graphic lo ca tion, the sky is lit er ally the limit. (Al thoughsome the o ret i cal phys i cists will likely tell you there are no lim its!)Be cause there are so many op por tu ni ties in such a wide va ri ety offields, you can work al most any where in the United States or theworld de pend ing on your will ing ness to re lo cate and your sense ofad ven ture. Even when lo cated in one geo graphic area, you may getthe op por tu nity to travel the globe at tend ing con fer ences and othersci en tific meet ings per ti nent to your field.

As you can see, where you work will de pend a lot on what youul ti mately want to do with your de gree or de grees. You can work for a small or a large cor po ra tion or or ga ni za tion or any size in be tweende pend ing on your goals and such is sues as the need for struc ture orfree dom in the work place.

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WHAT PHYSICISTS DO

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TYP I CAL DAY IN THE WORK LIVES OF ALL PHYS I CISTS.What you will do as a phys i cist de pends largely on the type of phys icsyou get into and your em ployer, whether it be in dus try, thegov ern ment, or ac a de mia.

In most cases, what ever you do you will be in volved with prob lemsolv ing. Phys i cists are given sit u a tions or prob lems and are asked tosolve them. Your work will most likely in volve both ex per i men talin ves ti ga tions and the o ret i cal anal y sis. Through out the course of yourca reer, you may per form the du ties of a sci en tist, en gi neer,math e ma ti cian, an a lyst, and even com puter pro gram mer.

Phys i cists are of ten roughly di vided into two kinds: ex per i men taland the o ret i cal phys i cists. As an ex per i men tal phys i cist, you mightde sign and run thor ough in ves ti ga tions on a broad range of nat u ralphe nom ena, such as the elec tri cal prop er ties of ma te ri als when theyreach near ab so lute zero or the char ac ter is tics of en ergy emit ted byhot gases. As a the o ret i cal phys i cist your fo cus will be more onpro pos ing and de vel op ing mod els and the o ries to an a lyze and pre dictthe be hav ior of the nat u ral world. Of course, the ar eas of ex per i men tal and the o ret i cal phys ics of ten over lap.

The gen eral du ties of phys i cists are widely var ied. You may bede vel op ing new prod ucts or types of com puter hard ware andsoft ware. As an as tro phys i cist, you might be look ing for new plan etsand so lar sys tems. Or your du ties may be re ally un con ven tional, suchas de vel op ing new golf ball dim ple pat terns and re search ing theprop er ties of sport ing equip ment.

What you do and the du ties in volved will also de pend on youred u ca tion. Peo ple who ma jor in phys ics and get a bach e lor’s de greeof ten work in the pri vate sec tor or in sec ond ary ed u ca tion. They maybe com puter en gi neers and even go into man age ment, where theysu per vise pro jects and peo ple and man age bud gets. Those who hold a mas ter’s de gree are more likely to have higher lev els of re spon si bil ity,from su per vis ing re search in lab o ra to ries to solv ing com plex prob lems. With a grad u ate de gree you are also more likely to have man age mentre spon si bil i ties.

More than half of those who get their doc tor ate in phys ics workfor col leges and uni ver si ties. Their du ties not only in clude con duct inglong-term re search pro jects but also var i ous as pects of teach ing andsu per vi sion, which may in clude de vel op ing a course of in struc tion,

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pre sent ing lec tures, and grad ing tests and pa pers. Of ten, phys icspro fes sors also serve as men tors to spe cific stu dents, help ing to guidethem in their re search pro jects and in their fu ture ca reers.

If there is one uni ver sal as pect of a phys i cist’s du ties, it is the factthat you prob a bly will be work ing with math e mat ics. You will have toper form nu mer ous cal cu la tions, and you will also do math e mat i calmod el ing. As a part of this ef fort, you may de sign and per formex per i ments with la sers, cy clo trons, mass spec trom e ters, and a host of other equip ment. In the course of your in ves ti ga tions you will not only de fine re search prob lems and de velop re search mod els, but alsogather and an a lyze data.

Many phys i cists also work for fed er ally funded re search andde vel op ment cen ters. You may de sign equip ment and in stru ments. Ifyou are work ing in in dus try, your du ties may in clude in spect ing,test ing, and con duct ing qual ity con trol pro ce dures for prod ucts orother as pects of the par tic u lar in dus try that em ploys you.

Some phys i cists are self-em ployed and work as con sul tants,pro vid ing their ex per tise to a num ber of cli ents, in clud ing gov ern mentand in dus try. If you have your doc tor ate, you may also spe cial ize inone of many sub-fields, from el e men tary par ti cle or nu clear phys ics toop tics, acous tics, or plasma phys ics.

The ma jor ity of phys i cists also have non-tech ni cal du ties, such asde vel op ing and writ ing re search pro pos als, re view ing sci en tificlit er a ture, and sum ma riz ing re search find ings. Even if you are notteach ing stu dents, your du ties may re quire you to ex plain your work to oth ers in a par tic u lar in dus try. You may have to pre pare tech ni calre ports. Some phys i cists even write for the gen eral pub lic innews pa pers, mag a zines, and books. For the most part, you can alsoex pect to work with oth ers in a team en vi ron ment.

Al though the field of phys ics en com passes too many ca reers toout line all of their du ties here, the fol low ing is a sam ple of what youmight do in var i ous ar eas of phys ics.

Astrophysicist As an as tro phys i cist, you study the na ture andbe hav ior of the uni verse. You may con duct stud ies ap ply ing gen eralrel a tiv ity to the study of black holes or cos mol ogy. Or you may beus ing a com puter to con trol sat el lites or con duct nu mer i cal anal y sis ofas tro nom i cal data. You may also work on build ing new in stru ments oruse ex ist ing ones to dis cover new facts about stars, neb u lae andgal ax ies. Your job will usu ally in clude data ac qui si tion and re search,

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per haps con cern ing the el lip ti cal gal ax ies that shine brightly in thex-ray re gion of the elec tro mag netic spec trum. To study these ex tremely hot ma te ri als in the gal axy, you may use such in stru ments as an x-raytele scope. You may even over see an en tire plan e tar ium and over see allthe re search that goes on there as well as de velop bud gets and doother man age ment work.

Biophysicist Bio phys i cists fo cus on ex plain ing why the bio phys i calen vi ron ment be haves as it does. You may be re quired to de velopre search meth ods to better un der stand the mech a nisms of bi o log i calpro cesses by us ing math e mat ics, phys ics, chem is try, and bi ol ogy. Fields of re search in clude how the brain pro cesses and stores in for ma tion,how mus cles con tract, how the heart pumps blood, and much more.Bio phys i cists also study how or gan isms de velop, see, hear, think, andlive. Your du ties prob a bly will re quire ex ten sive com puter use for datacol lec tion and anal y sis. You will also de sign ex per i ments us ing la sers,cy clo trons, mass spec trom e ters, and other equip ment. Re searchbio phys i cists also write sci en tific ar ti cles and pres ent their work atin ter na tional con fer ences.

Computational PhysicistCom pu ta tional phys ics is a rel a tively new branch of phys ics that liesbe tween the o ret i cal and ex per i men tal phys ics. As a com pu ta tionalphys i cist you would fo cus on the prac ti cal use of com put ers in thestudy of phys ics ques tions. You would use the new est tech nol ogy andhave a hands-on ap proach to sci en tific com put ing. For ex am ple, youcould be de vel op ing im ag ing and spec tral anal y sis soft ware forsci en tific ap pli ca tions.

You could also be come an en tre pre neur as a grow ing num ber ofcom pu ta tional phys i cists start up their own com pa nies. Thesephys i cists-en tre pre neurs fo cus pri mar ily on com puter codede vel op ment, com puter sys tems ad min is tra tion, Web de vel op ment,net work ing, and other means to solve spe cific prob lems needed bypri vate com merce and in dus try.

Radiation or Health Physicist The pri mary du ties of a ra di a tionor health phys i cist are to work with shield ing de signs, ra dio log i calcon sid er ations, and op er a tional as pects of fa cil i ties that use ra di a tionor pro duce ra di a tion. For ex am ple, in the area of hos pi tal ra di a tionther apy, du ties in volve the in ves ti ga tion, sur veil lance, in spec tion andreg is tra tion of x-ray pro duc ing ma chines. In the nu clear in dus try, thera di a tion or health phys i cist du ties in clude en sur ing the pro tec tion of

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per sons and their en vi ron ment from the dam ag ing ef fects ofra di a tion. Ra di a tion phys i cists may be em ployed in nu clear re ac torop er a tions, ac cel er a tor pro grams, hos pi tals, or state pub lic healthde part ments. Your du ties could in clude re search in radiobiology,ecol ogy, and radiogeology.

These are only a few pos si bil i ties of the jobs and du ties that might be yours as a phys i cist. It’s best to re mem ber that there is no one setof du ties for some one work ing in phys ics or a phys ics-re lated field.What you do will de pend on where you work, your level ofre spon si bil i ties, and your drive to suc ceed.

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PHYSICISTS TELL ABOUT THEIR CAREERS

I’m a Re search Phys i cist “I am a re search sci en tistwho fo cuses on space travel. The pri mary rea son that I chosesci ence and a ca reer in phys ics is be cause my high school sci enceteacher made the courses both chal leng ing and fun. He made it so in ter est ing that I started to read tech ni cal books on my ownabout phys ics and math, as tron omy, and even quan tum the ory.

When I got into col lege, I still was n’t sure that I wanted to bea phys i cist. But by the time I got my bach e lor’s de gree I was to tally hooked. Going for my mas ter’s de gree gave me some ex tra time to de cide ex actly what I wanted to spe cial ize in, which ended upbe ing so lar en ergy at the time. I guess you could say that myca reer plan has been con stantly evolv ing through out my ed u ca tion and work as a phys i cist.

One of the smart est things I did while in col lege was to getin volved in a co-op pro gram. It al lowed me to al ter nate se mes tersof stan dard col lege courses with se mes ters where I ac tu allyworked on var i ous pro jects, such as re search ing solid-stateelec tron ics.

Dur ing the course of my ca reer I have done de sign work andtaught and con ducted re search at a uni ver sity, which I re ally liked.But there are so many op por tu ni ties, and I guess I’m sort of like amen tal no mad who likes to ex plore a lot of dif fer ent ar eas. So Iended up in in dus try for a while and then worked in man age ment. But I found that I liked hands-on sci ence work much better. I’mcur rently in ter ested in space en vi ron ment ef fects, that is, howspace craft and hu mans in ter act with their en vi ron ment in or bit orwhile on a planet.

I work with a team of about five or six peo ple. This team ispart of a larger team of about 30 peo ple over all in dif fer ent partsof the coun try. Still, much of my work is self-guided and I haveplenty of free dom to ex plore dif fer ent di rec tions and as pects ofmy stud ies. I spend a lot of time work ing at a com puter, in clud ingdo ing com puter pro gram ming and data anal y sis.

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Over all, the work ing con di tions are great and very re laxed. Imake a good liv ing and have great ben e fits. But most of all, I lovewhat I do.”

I’m an In dus trial Phys i cist “I’m a vice pres i dent ofre search for a ma jor sci ence com pany and over see some of themost cre ative sci en tific minds I have known. The peo ple I workwith have been re spon si ble for dis cov er ies lead ing to more than1,000 pat ents and many life-chang ing in ven tions.

I joined the com pany right out of col lege af ter re ceiv ing myPhD in phys ics. My men tor in col lege thought that I would also gointo ac a de mia, but a sum mer place ment pro gram at this com pany im pressed me so much that I de cided that’s what I wanted to do. I knew there was so much that I could ac com plish here.

I be gan my ca reer work ing on light-scat ter ing ex per i ments oncom plex flu ids, sur faces and other con densed mat ter. I won’t gointo the de tails, but it was fas ci nat ing. Over the course of theyears, the re search I par tic i pated in be came quite di verse – fromplas tic su per con duc tors to DNA to dark mat ter. Al though I’m nowin man age ment, I still con duct re search, which now fo cuses onop ti cal sys tems. It makes up about ten per cent of my du ties.

I try to main tain an ex tremely cre ative at mo sphere in there search labs. And the peo ple who work on prod uct de vel op menttell me that such an at mo sphere has dra mat i cally ben e fit ted theirwork. Yes, there are pres sures be cause the com pany I work fordeals with tele com mu ni ca tions and the tech nol ogy is chang ingrap idly. We’re ex pected to pro duce world-class re search, both inthe short and long terms.

Still, I’ve learned many ways to bal ance my life. I play thepi ano and do Tae Bo aer o bics, both of which help me to re lax. As a woman I have had some tough times ad vanc ing up the sci en tificor cor po rate lad der in a tra di tion ally male dom i nated field. But Ial ways loved a chal lenge. In fact, part of the rea son I be came aphys i cist is be cause my older brother, who was study ingmath e mat ics in col lege when I was still in high school, told methat I could n’t han dle the course work to be come a phys i cist.

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To day, I think it’s very easy for women to make a name forthem selves in in dus try. In the end, most em ploy ers only care about re sults, not your back ground. As a re sult, I would n’t hes i tate toen cour age my daugh ter to go into phys ics if that’s what shewanted to do.”

I’m a Con sul tant En gi neer “I’m a build ing ser vicescon sult ing en gi neer and pro vide ex per tise in the de sign ofin no va tive con struc tion pro jects. I’ll never for get what one of mycol lege pro fes sors told me. He said that a good phys i cist al waysmakes an ex cel lent en gi neer but that an en gi neer sel dom makes agood phys i cist.

My pri mary ex per tise is in ar eas of heat ing and light ing andvar i ous other sys tems that con trol a build ing’s in ter nalen vi ron ment. I of ten work with ar chi tects and struc tural en gi neers and also ad vise them on ways to min i mize en vi ron men tal im pactin such ar eas as acous tics and en ergy man age ment.

One of the best things I like about the job is that I’m not inthe of fice all of the time. I get to travel to dif fer ent parts of theUnited States, and I am of ten on-site draw ing up spec i fi ca tions.It’s great when you de sign some thing and then get to see it upand run ning ef fi ciently.

When I tell peo ple what I do and that I ma jored in phys ics incol lege, they are quite sur prised. Most of them never would haveguessed that my job is some thing some one with a back ground inphys ics would end up do ing.

The fact is phys i cists work in ev ery as pect of the econ omy and in ev ery area of tech nol ogy that you can think of. It’s not al waysthe spe cific sub jects that we were taught in col lege phys ics thatmake us so valu able. It’s the whole way we are trained to thinkthat’s im por tant. Actually, most of the peo ple I grad u ated with are not in main stream phys ics jobs. Some work in gov ern ment andman age ment, and I have one friend who even works in fi nance.

I guess what I’m try ing to say is that phys ics is more of adis ci pline than a ca reer. The only thing that I know that all peo plein phys ics have in com mon is that they have an in quis i tive mind.Well, they’re pretty good at math, too.”

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I’m a Free lance Sci ence Writer “When I started out study ing phys ics, I wanted to go into ac a de mia, be a col legepro fes sor. But by the time I got my mas ter’s de gree, I no lon gerwanted to fol low the tra di tional ca reer path of the Phys i cist with a cap i tal P.

One of the turn ing points was when my col lege ad viserpointed out that there were many ways for me to go with ade gree in phys ics. At the time, it was dif fi cult to get an ac a demicap point ment, and I was told I needed to open up my vis tas a bit.

Even though I got my PhD, which is pretty much are quire ment for a phys ics ca reer in a ma jor col lege or uni ver sity, Ifo cused my ef forts on get ting a job in in dus try. I had noex pe ri ence and a lit tle bit of a tough time find ing a job be causethe econ omy was in a slump at the time. Al though my pri marywork in col lege fo cused on in fra red sen sors, I also worked with my pro fes sors on a va ri ety of other pro jects do ing lit tle odd-job typesof things, in clud ing de vel op ing soft ware pro grams for lab o ra toryex per i ments.

I ended up work ing for a soft ware de vel op ment firm inprod uct de vel op ment. It was a small firm so I also was asked toas sist the mar ket ing de part ment to gain a better un der stand ing of our prod ucts. At one point, I started work ing on the com pany’snews let ters and mar ket ing bro chures to make sure all thetech ni cal ma te rial was pre sented cor rectly. In the end, I found that I had a real knack for writ ing tech ni cal and ad ver tis ing ma te ri als,and it was n’t long be fore I went into mar ket ing full time,even tu ally be com ing the com pany’s mar ket ing man ager.

I love com mu ni cat ing sci ence to the gen eral pub lic andeven tu ally de cided to strike out on my own as a free lance sci encewriter. The con tacts I had made while I worked as a phys i cist andin mar ket ing helped me get a good start. You’d be sur prised howmuch de mand there is for some one who can write aboutcom pli cated sci ence in a way that’s un der stand able by al mostany body.

I’m cur rently writ ing a phys ics text book and have co-authored a chil dren’s book about phys ics. I write for sev eral sci encemag a zines and even have an idea for a sci ence fic tion novel basedon some re ally ex traor di nary the o ries in phys ics.”

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PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

AL THOUGH PHYS I CISTS SHARE MANY COM MON TRAITS, PER HAPS THE MOSTim por tant of all is a fas ci na tion with the world around them and anin tense cu ri os ity about why the world works as it does. They also tendto have good imag i na tions and the de sire to make new dis cov er ies.

On the more prac ti cal side, some one who wants to be come aphys i cist should have a strong in ter est in sci ence in gen eral. Anap ti tude for math e mat ics is es sen tial since the lan guage of phys ics ismath e mat ics. As a re sult, many phys i cists, es pe cially the o ret i calphys i cists, like to solve prob lems. They have the abil ity to con cen trateon a prob lem and get deeply in volved in it – some times over monthsand years. In other words, good prob lem-solv ing skills are es sen tial.

Phys i cists tend to be an a lyt i cal, cre ative, and per sis tent. They arealso will ing to take the ini tia tive, ask ing ques tions that no one hasasked be fore and putt ing in the ef fort to an swer these ques tions.Of ten, the phys i cist is able to see re la tion ships among var i ous fac torsthat are not im me di ately ap par ent to oth ers.

It may sur prise you to know that phys i cists should also be goodcom mu ni ca tors. Gaining knowl edge about some thing does n’t domuch good for any one else un less you can com mu ni cate yourknowl edge to them. You should be able to in form, ex plain, andin struct so that you and oth ers can draw mean ing ful con clu sionsabout your work. Good spo ken and writ ten com mu ni ca tion skills arealso handy be cause phys i cists of ten work with other sci en tists as ateam, not only in the lab o ra tory but also writ ing re search pa pers andpro pos als for fund ing re search.

Many phys i cists work in in dus try and busi ness en vi ron ments,mean ing that while be ing able to fo cus is im por tant it is also valu ableto be able to work on many dif fer ent tasks si mul ta neously. Goodcom mu ni ca tion skills come into play so you can com mu ni cate withthose around you who may not have your sci en tific back ground. Many phys i cists also over see other work ers. They should be good peo pleman ag ers who can build re la tion ships based on trust.

You must be will ing to con tinue study ing through out your ca reer.Phys i cists can en ter a va ri ety of fields and work on many dif fer enttypes of prob lems. As a re sult, they are will ing to broaden theired u ca tional back ground be yond the realm of phys ics.

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Few peo ple pos sess all of the qual i ties de scribed, es pe cially asstu dents and early in their ca reers. But with the right ed u ca tion, awill ing ness to learn, and a de sire to suc ceed, you can im prove uponthe per sonal qual i ties that you al ready pos sess.

ATTRACTIVE FEATURES

ONE OF THE MOST RE WARD ING AS PECTS OF BE ING A PHYS I CIST IS THAT YOU AREbuild ing a base of sci en tific knowl edge that ul ti mately en richesev ery one’s lives. For ex am ple, many of the high-tech med i cal ad vances that have saved count less lives have re sulted from the work ofphys i cists.

Many peo ple choose to study phys ics be cause they are fas ci natedby the world around them. A ca reer in phys ics will en able you to getpaid for pur su ing this fas ci na tion and find ing an swers to yourques tions.

Trained in phys ics, you can go in a lot of dif fer ent di rec tions onceyou grad u ate and through out your ca reer. The prob lem-solv ing skillsde vel oped through your ed u ca tion are use ful in many pro fes sions. Asa re sult, your ca reer will have an in her ent flex i bil ity not of ten found inother pro fes sions. This flex i bil ity also of fers a type of job se cu rity inthat your skills will al most al ways be in de mand in some sec tor ofgov ern ment, in dus try, or ac a de mia.

In many phys ics-re lated ca reers, you have the best of both worldsin that you of ten get to work quite in de pend ently while, at the sametime, be ing part of a team. Working with smart col leagues alsoen ables you to bounce ideas off them that can put you that muchcloser to reach ing your goals in re search and prod uct de vel op ment.

For a phys i cist, no two days are the same. Most phys ics andphys ics-re lated jobs of fer a lot of flex i bil ity and va ri ety. Of ten phys i cists also de velop their own con sult ing busi nesses or start com pa nies based on new prod ucts or pro cesses that they de velop.

In many cases, phys i cists have the op por tu nity to do what everthey think is nec es sary to achieve their goals. In the pro cess, you areof ten on the cut ting-edge of sci ence and busi ness.

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UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES

AL THOUGH PHYS I CISTS GET PAID REL A TIVELY WELL, THE PAY IS NOT AS HIGH AS INmany other equiv a lent pro fes sional ca reers, such as med i cine,ac count ing, and law. You may also face stiff com pe ti tion at times for a spe cific job. For ex am ple, job avail abil ity at gov ern ment fundedre search and de vel op ment cen ters is highly de pend ent on bud getsal lot ted to these cen ters. These bud gets are de vel oped and ap provedby pol i ti cians and bu reau crats and of ten de pend on the cur rentecon omy as well as many po lit i cal fac tors.

You may also face con sid er able pres sure on the job, es pe cially inthe in dus trial and com mer cial sec tors. For ex am ple, you may have tobear ma jor re spon si bil ity for de vel op ing a new prod uct or pro cess that will im pact the fu ture of your com pany and fel low work ers. As are sult, you may also work long hours and have to put up withor ga ni za tional pol i tics.

Some times you may have dif fi culty in find ing a niche that issuit able for you. Be ing pre pared for dif fer ent types of work is a goodthing. How ever, un less you are com mit ted to a spe cific area of phys ics, it could take you sev eral years to find what you re ally want to do withyour ca reer and where you fit in. This is es pe cially true for phys i cistswith only a bach e lor’s de gree.

Finally, al though your peers and em ploy ers will re spect you, manypeo ple may never quite un der stand what it is you do. In fact, in manycases, in clud ing both gov ern ment and pri vate sec tor jobs, you won’tbe able to tell them what you’re work ing on be cause it has to be kepta se cret.

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MANY OP TIONS ARE AVAIL ABLE IN HIGHER ED U CA TION FOR GET TING A DE GREE INphys ics and the train ing to work in a phys ics-re lated field. Of ten youcan ap ply for phys ics re lated jobs in in dus try right af ter ob tain ing your bach e lor’s de gree. But better pay ing jobs, es pe cially those in ba sicre search and ac a de mia, usu ally re quire at least a mas ter’s de gree andof ten a doc tor ate.

The level of ed u ca tion you should seek de pends a lot on yourca reer goals. Many col leges and uni ver si ties are be gin ning to of ferpro fes sional mas ter’s de gree pro grams that pre pare stu dents for aspe cific phys ics-re lated job in pri vate in dus try. Even with a bach e lor’sde gree you can work in many en gi neer ing-re lated ar eas, soft ware, and other com puter-re lated po si tions. How ever, for the high-level re searchjobs in al most any field, a doc tor ate is re quired.

Part of your de ci sion in pur su ing an ed u ca tion will also de pend on your will ing ness to make a long-term com mit ment. For ex am ple, youcan get a Bach e lor of Sci ence (BS) de gree in phys ics in four years. Itusu ally takes an other two years to get a mas ter’s de gree (MS). It canre quire an other two to four years to get a doc toral de gree (PhD).

De gree pro grams will of ten vary from col lege to col lege but thefol low ing will give you a gen eral idea of the re quire ments you willhave to ful fill for each de gree level.

Bachelor’s DegreeThe stan dard four-year cur ric u lum in phys ics will in volve manysci ence-based classes, start ing with first-year phys ics courses. Eventhough these courses cover the fun da men tals of phys ics in such ar easas me chan ics, elec tric ity, and mag ne tism, they are of ten very dif fi cultand are de signed to weed-out phys ics can di dates. Even if you don’tex cel early on in your phys ics courses, you should per se vere. Manysuc cess ful phys i cists did not start out by do ing well in these courses.

Your phys ics courses will prog ress into such ar eas as in ter me di ateme chan ics and the o ries of en ergy and mass. You may also take courses in op tics, ther mo dy nam ics, sta tis ti cal me chan ics, and even tu allyel e men tary quan tum me chan ics. Some un der grad u ate pro grams mayof fer an op por tu nity to spe cial ize some what in such ar eas asas tro phys ics, geo phys ics, and bio phys ics. But spe cial iza tion usu allybe gins dur ing mas ters and doc toral pro grams.

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You can also ex pect to take a lot of math courses, in clud ingcal cu lus. Of course, the idea of an un der grad u ate ed u ca tion is topro duce a well- rounded grad u ate, so you will have to take courses inso cial stud ies, Eng lish, and com po si tion. Some of these courses will be elec tives that you can choose from.

Master’s DegreeMost mas ter’s de gree pro grams re quire two years fol low ing anun der grad u ate de gree in phys ics or a re lated field, such as chem is try.Many will of fer you a choice of a the sis-based pro gram or a non-the sis pro gram. In the the sis-based pro gram you will have to pick a topic orre search area and write ex ten sively about it in ad di tion to yourclass room work. A non-the sis pro gram re quires ad di tional class roomwork and will usu ally in clude com plet ing some type of pro ject and afi nal ex am i na tion.

A mas ter’s de gree can pre pare you for many fields in in dus try andre search and teach ing at the com mu nity col lege level. You will mostlikely take courses in clas si cal me chan ics, elec tro dy nam ics, andquan tum me chan ics. Re search is also an im por tant part of anymas ter’s de gree pro gram in phys ics, and nearly all pro grams of ferhands-on re search as part of the mas ter’s ed u ca tion.

If you en ter a pro fes sional mas ter’s de gree pro gram, it willpre pare you for a non-ac a demic ca reer in the field. This type ofed u ca tion pro vides not only fun da men tal train ing that all phys i cistsre ceive but also spe cial ized skills tar get ing spe cific in dus tries andgov ern ment re search po si tions.

Doctoral DegreeMost peo ple work ing in col leges and uni ver si ties and in the higherlev els of gov ern ment and in dus try have a PhD in phys ics. Earning adoc tor ate re quires a high level of com mit ment and de vo tion since itcan take three to six years to com plete.

Most doc toral pro grams re quire stu dents to have dem on strated ahigh-level of abil ity dur ing their un der grad u ate and mas ter’sed u ca tion. To be ad mit ted, you prob a bly will have to take both awrit ten exam fo cus ing on your knowl edge of un der grad u ate phys icsand a pre lim i nary oral exam on grad u ate-level phys ics.

Doc toral stu dents usu ally spe cial ize in one area of phys ics, such asas tro phys ics, at mo spheric phys ics, math e mat i cal phys ics, gen eralrel a tiv ity, and so on. In ad di tion to about 50 or so credit hours ofgrad u ate and up per-di vi sion course work in phys ics, math, and other

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ar eas ap proved by com mit tee, you will be re quired to choose an areaof re search and then write a com pre hen sive dis ser ta tion about yourfind ings. You will get help with this re search through your ad vi sor. Ifyou can not come up with your own idea for a re search pro ject, yourad vi sor will of ten as sign you a re search prob lem or in clude you in hisor her own on go ing re search.

Financial Aid Col lege can be ex pen sive, and go ing on to grad u ateschool could put a se ri ous dent in al most any body’s bud get. Youshould start talk ing early with your high school guid ance coun selorand col leges of your choice about fi nan cial aid pro grams, us ing thefed eral and state gov ern ment, grants, and schol ar ships. Search theWeb, in clud ing the US De part ment of Ed u ca tion and spe cific col legeWeb sites. You’ll find a wealth of in for ma tion about get ting aid foryour un der grad u ate ed u ca tion.

Al most all grad u ate phys ics stu dents can re ceive fi nan cialas sis tance in one form or the other. Fel low ships, teach ingassistantships, and re search assistantships are com mon ways thatgrad u ate stu dents help to fi nance their grad u ate ed u ca tion. Teachingassistantships are the most com mon form of sup port of fered to newgrad u ate stu dents. This is be cause re search work can take up a lot oftime and col leges want to make sure that stu dents have plenty of time for their class room work and to adapt to their new level of study. Asyou prog ress in your grad u ate ed u ca tion, re search assistantshipsbe come much more com mon and of fer you not only fi nan cialas sis tance but also real-world ex pe ri ence in the lab o ra tory.

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EARNINGS

THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU CAN EARN AS A PHYS I CIST DE PENDS ON MANYfac tors. For ex am ple, peo ple with a doc toral de gree gen er ally earnmore than some one with a mas ter’s de gree, who gen er ally earns more than some one with only a bach e lor’s de gree.

Ac cord ing to a re cent sur vey by the Amer i can In sti tute of Phys ics(AIP), the over all me dian an nual sal ary for AIP-mem ber phys i cists (ages 35 to 44) is:

Doctoral (PhD or equivalent) – $100,000

Master’s degree – $90,000

Bachelor’s degree – $80,000

Ex pe ri ence is also an other im por tant fac tor. Doc toral phys i cistswho have worked for less than five years typ i cally earn around$85,000 a year in an in dus try set ting. By the time they have gainedmore ex pe ri ence, the av er age me dian sal ary in creases to around$100,000 a year.

Sal aries also de pend on where you work. Typically, doc toralphys i cists who work in fed er ally funded re search and de vel op ment(R&D) cen ters make more than those who work for the fed eralgov ern ment or a uni ver sity. This is par tic u larly true early on in thephys i cist’s ca reer. Doc toral phys i cists en ter ing the in dus trial and thefed er ally funded R&D cen ter work forces earn around $65,000 to$80,000 a year, com pared to gov ern ment em ployed phys i cists, whoseearn ings start at around $50,000 to $70,000 a year. On the other endof the scale, phys i cists with bach e lor’s de grees typ i cally earn start ingsal a ries from $25,000 a year to $40,000.

The top three me dian sal a ries per year earned by doc toralphys i cists ac cord ing to work sec tor are:

$110,000 – hospitals and medical services sectors

$105,000 – federally funded research and development sectors

$100,000 – industry sectors

Starting sal a ries in the uni ver sity set ting typ i cally range from$40,000 a year in a 10-month po si tion to $60,000 a year in a12-month po si tion. The sal ary of those who at tain a doc toral de greeand pur sue a full-time ca reer in ac a de mia also de pends on their levelof ac a demic ap point ments. Typ i cal sal a ries are:

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Full professor – $100,000 to $150,000 a year

Associate professor – $70,000 to $95,000

Assistant professor – $55,000 to $75,000.

Phys i cists’ sal a ries typ i cally fare well in terms of keep ing up within fla tion. For ex am ple the an nual sal ary of around $100,000 a yearearned by the typ i cal ex pe ri enced in dus trial phys i cist is a sig nif i cantin crease from the $80,000 a year re ported only a few years ear lier. AnAIP study found that sal a ries for phys i cists have in creased over 10per cent since 1998, far higher than the ap prox i mate six per centin fla tion ary in creases over all. And those who worked for fed er allyfunded R&D cen ters have net ted about a 15 per cent pay in crease since 1998.

Sal aries and fu ture earn ing po ten tial vary widely ac cord ing toed u ca tion level at tained, work sec tor, ex pe ri ence and even geo graphiclo ca tion. Many phys i cists also make much more money than there ported av er ages through sup ple men tal sources such as con sult ing,sum mer re search pro jects, or sum mer teach ing po si tions, each ofwhich can add an av er age of $15,000 a year to the in comes de scribed.

OPPORTUNITIES

PHYS ICS IS THE BA SIS OF MANY EN DEAV ORS IN EN GI NEER ING AND NAT U RALsci ence. As a re sult, study ing phys ics opens up nu mer ousop por tu ni ties for em ploy ment in pri vate com pa nies, uni ver si ties,schools, re search cen ters, and gov ern men tal agen cies.

Like most ca reers, op por tu nities and job out look for phys icsma jors have fluc tu ated over the years, largely de pend ing on eco nomicdown turns and up swings. Nev er the less, the em ploy ment rate forphys i cists has re mained among the high est for any sci ence ma jors andhas been con sis tently above the na tional av er age.

Ac cord ing to the United States Bu reau of La bor Sta tis tics, manyphys i cists work on de fense-re lated pro jects for the gov ern ment.Be cause spend ing on de fense is ex pected to in crease over the nextde cade, the out look for phys i cists in this field is good.

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Fed eral bud gets have also in creased for phys ics re search atfed er ally funded re search and de vel op ment (R&D) cen ters and atagen cies such as the Na tional Aero nau tics and Space Ad min is tra tion(NASA). Al though short-term bud get gov ern ment is sues of ten causefluc tu a tions in fund ing, con tin ued in creases in re search andde vel op ment fund ing are ex pected over the long haul and shouldmean in creased job op por tu ni ties for phys i cists.

Em ploy ment op por tu ni ties have also been good in the col lege and uni ver sity set tings. The num ber of full-time phys ics fac ulty em ployedin ac a de mia has in creased in the last few years, and the num ber offac ulty mem bers which phys ics de part ments are re cruit ing re mainshigh. This out look is fur ther bol stered by the fact that more phys icsfac ulty mem bers are over the age of 60 than un der the age of 40,mean ing that there should be a higher rate of re tire ment and moreop por tu ni ties within ac a de mia in the years to come.

A sur vey by the Amer i can In sti tute of Phys ics (AIP) found that only three per cent of stu dents who earn a mas ter’s de gree in phys ics arenot work ing within six months. Within that time, over 70 per cent findfull-time em ploy ment, and al most all the rest be gin pur su ing an othergrad u ate de gree and work ing part time. In fact, op por tu ni ties ac tu allymay be better for mas ter’s de gree phys i cists in ar eas of ap pliedre search and de vel op ment, prod uct de sign, and other man u fac tur ingin dus try jobs. The job market for phys i cists in the earth and spacesci ences also re mains good.

Phys ics grad u ates are in de mand in a wide va ri ety of in dus tries,in clud ing in for ma tion tech nol ogy, semi con duc tor tech nol ogy, andcom puter soft ware and en gi neer ing com pa nies. Those with abach e lor’s de gree sel dom work in high-level re search jobs.Nev er the less, they do qual ify for open ings in jobs re lated toen gi neer ing, math e mat ics, and com put ers. They also can be come high school teach ers if they meet a state’s cer tif i ca tion re quire ments, andre cent re ports in di cate a high de mand in many school dis tricts.

The bot tom line is that a de gree in phys ics at any level pre paresthe stu dent for many dif fer ent job op por tu ni ties and di verse ca reers,which trans lates into a va ri ety of op por tu ni ties.

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GETTING STARTED

IF YOU ARE THINK ING ABOUT A CA REER IN PHYS ICS, FIRST AND FORE MOST, THINKmath, math, math. Start tai lor ing your ed u ca tion now so you canreach your goal. Take all the math-re lated classes that you pos si blycan, from sim ple al ge bra to ge om e try to cal cu lus courses. A strongback ground in math and other high school sci ences, es pe ciallychem is try, will pre pare you for the far more ad vanced stud ies incol lege.

Phys i cists also work with many types of ad vanced equip ment. As a re sult, you should gain as much fa mil iar ity with elec tron ics andma chin ery as you can. Your high school in dus trial arts or shop classescan pro vide you with valu able ex pe ri ence in how to build and re pairequip ment. Of course, you’ll also want to be ex pe ri enced in the use ofcom puters.

Al though sci ence courses should be your em pha sis, it is alsoim por tant to be well rounded. Re mem ber, you want to be able tocom mu ni cate your ideas, goals, and so lu tions to oth ers. So take allyour courses se ri ously, in clud ing Eng lish and those in the so cialsci ences.

If you are al ready in col lege, now is the time to start se ri ouslyplan ning your fu ture in phys ics and phys ics-re lated ca reers. Start as afresh man to in ves ti gate the many op por tu ni ties open to you. Talk toyour guid ance coun selor. Talk to the staff in your col lege’s ca reercen ter. They can give you a lot of in for ma tion and other sources where you can gain in for ma tion. Ask them if there is some way you can talkto a work ing phys i cist out side the ac a demic cen ter or if there is acom pany nearby that em ploys phys ics ma jors. Call the com pany upand ask if you can talk with some one or shadow a phys i cist on the job.

If pos si ble, at tend phys ics ed u ca tion sem i nars if any are of fered inyour area. Look into sum mer in tern ships and fel low ships in phys icsand phys ics-re lated ar eas. Your school’s ca reer cen ter will prob a bly beable to help you. If not, search the Web for com pa nies andor ga ni za tions that do re search in those ar eas that you’re in ter ested in.Con tact them and tell them you are ea ger to learn and have a lot toof fer. If you show enough en thu si asm and en ergy, you may be able tocre ate your own op por tu ni ties. But be pa tient and per sis tent, it maytake con tact ing a dozen peo ple be fore you get any pos i tive re sponses.

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Since your school prob a bly has a phys ics de part ment, talk to asmany in struc tors in the de part ment as you can, from mas ter’s de greestu dents to full pro fes sors who have been in the field for years. Findout about the dif fer ence be tween ex per i men tal and the o ret i cal phys ics so you can de cide which area you would like to con cen trate on. Orper haps you are think ing about other phys ics-re lated fields or teach ing phys ics in high school. Start in ves ti gat ing these pos si bil i ties with yourguid ance coun selor and col lege ca reer cen ter. Do it now; don’t wait.

Con trary to pop u lar be lief, you don’t have to be an Ein stein to bea suc cess ful phys i cist. What you do have to do is work harder on thear eas that you need to work on, in clud ing math. De velop good studyhab its and think about join ing or start ing a study group with mem bers of your class. Phys i cists of ten work in teams so this will not only helpyou with your stud ies but also pre pare you to work with oth ers in thefu ture.

Re mem ber, the field of phys ics is wide open with a va ri ety ofdif fer ent op por tu ni ties in many fields. How far you go de pends partlyon how far you prog ress in your ed u ca tion, from a bach e lor’s de greeto a mas ter’s or to a doc tor ate. But you can have a ca reer in aphys ics-re lated field with any de gree level in phys ics. It is ul ti mately up to you.

ASSOCIATIONS

nAmer i can Cen ter for Phys ics

nAmer i can In sti tute of Phys ics

nAmer i can Phys i cal So ci ety

n In sti tute of Phys ics

n In ter na tional As so ci a tion of Math e mat i cal Phys ics

nGeo phys i cal Un ion

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PERIODICALS

nCom puters in Phys ics

nCom puting in Sci ence and En gi neering

n In dus trial Phys ics

n Jour nal of Ap plied Phys ics

n Jour nal of Chem i cal Phys ics

n Jour nal of Math e mat i cal Phys ics

nPhys ics To day

WEBSITES

nAmer i can In sti tute of Phys icshttp://www.aip.org

nCa reers with Phys ics (In sti tute of Phys ics)http://ca reers.iop.org/

nNa tional Aero nau tics and Space Ad min is tra tion (NASA)http://www.nasa.gov/NASA_homepage.html

nPhys ics Cen tralhttp://www.physicscentral.com

nPhys ics Webhttp://physicsweb.org/

COYRIGHT 2007 In sti tute For Ca reer Re search CHICAGOCAREERS INTERNET DATABASE www.ca reers-internet.org

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