Careers in Physics?

Question

I'm a senior in high school and I'm really interested in physics and math, and I wanted to know some available careers in the physics field. I know engineering is one of them. It would be nice if you gave me the career and a brief explanation of what that career does.

Archangel:

That actually sounds pretty neat. Right now in Calculus we're doing related rates and optimization, which seems very similar to what you described, and I am liking that so far. Thanks for the answer.

Answer 1

I faced the same questions in high school, but as a graduate student I've met enough people to realize that your degree doesn't have to be at all related to your career. This is especially true in physics. My friends have been employed in practically every field you can imagine (software engineering, medicine, astronomy, chemistry, physical engineering, statistics and economics). You would have a more difficult time imagining careers that you CAN'T break into with a physics BS. The financial sector actually attracts a lot of physics PhDs, which suprised me. The hard sciences teach you how to think, which prepares you for almost any career; don't pay attention to people who question the employability of a pure science degree.

Answer 2

The number of such carreers is TNTC (too numerous to count). Engineering is a huge collection of careers all by itself. A physics background in engineering is helpful in many ways, not the least of which is you can better design a product or process if you understand how the stuff you're working with works. There's plenty to do in theoretical physics. The hottest topic right now is superstring theory, quantum gravity, and related fields trying to unify what's already known. They can make use of all the physics and math you can cram into your head. Applied physics tries to use physical phenomena to do something useful. Witness the laser and the transistor and the light emitting diode.

Keep learning all you can of both. You'll likely run across some areas that captivate you more than others. You can start specializing in them and see where that takes you. It's a fun ride!

Answer 3

I'm interested in the same stuff, and if you have great spacial reasoning and a good intuitive and anylitical problem solving process, look into Land Development, it's pretty much only available at the masters level, and it requires extensive civil engineering and other engineering courses to take it, what it is is basically city planning, you're given an area to work with, stuff that you have to put into it, and you have to make it work, it's sort of like puzzle solving on a grand scale where you just have the colors of the pieces but you get to determine their shape.

Answer 4

well, there are many different jobs that include physics and maths. My personal favorite would be particle physics; particle physics is a branch that deals with subatomic particles. Subatomic particles are particle below the sizes of atoms. particle physicals usually create some of this rare particle by smashing this particle by using particle accelerate. particle accelerators accelerate particle close to the speed of light. When this particle smash they break and inside sometimes physicists find new subatomic particles. Particle physics involve theory's, quantum physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Particle physics tries to solve or unmask the universe.