What does a physicist actually do?

Question

What does a physicist do on a daily basis? What type of job is it? Im keen to learn more on the subject and have a particular interest in astrophysics (or theoretical physics) but i cant seem to find anyone to expain what they do as daily tasks. I realise it'll be lab work mainly but what? I will be grateful for any insight. Thank-you!

Answer 1

In common with all scientists, astrophysicists spend their lives asking questions, then trying to discover the answers. On the NASA site below, you can read through the profiles of a number of the astrophysicists working there, and each has his own sphere of work. This is a quote from one of them, Dr David Thompson: 'What is a typical day at the office like? As most scientists here will tell you, there is no "typical" day. We all tend to do lots of things. Some days I spend the whole day focused on one of them, and other days I jump from one thing to another every 15 minutes. Here's a list of some of the things I do:

1. Supervise some of the construction and testing for the part of the GLAST observatory that we are building at Goddard.

2. Help coordinate the parts of the GLAST work that we are doing with the work being done by other groups around the world. That often means reading and writing reports.

3. Read and respond to e-mail. As part of several international collaborations, I rely on e-mail to keep informed about what these groups are doing and to tell them what I have been working on.

4. Catch up on the latest scientific news, either in journals or from various Web sites.

5. Write up or prepare talks about results of ongoing scientific projects, either for scientific journals, conference presentations, or popular press.

6. Work in the laboratory checking on progress in our part of GLAST.

7. Coordinate invited speakers for the Goddard Scientific Colloquium, including publicity for their talks.

8. Attend meetings (formal or informal) with scientific collaborators.

9. Ponder the future (aka daydreaming).

10. Eat lunch (often at my desk while doing some of these other things)."

If you're really interested in this branch of physics, do visit the site, as there's lots of info there. The second site may also be useful to you. Good luck for the future.

Answer 2

As previous posters have explained, if you want to remain involved in astrophysics or theoretical physics, most jobs are likely to be as university researchers. I did an PhD in a fairly experimental area of physics, and spent a lot of my time putting together experiments - working in a workshop (lathes, drills and stuff), aligning lenses, putting pipework together. Then there is time spent doing the experiment (pressing teh buttons - often on a computer these days), and analysing the results (which can be quite like analysing the results from school experiments - plot a graph, read off teh constants, or fit teh graph to what you would expect). I also did some theoretical work to support teh experiments, and this mainly involved working through equations by hand, and then programming them up (back then it was Fortran, but now more likely in C or C++). I also did some teaching, including demonstrating practicals. I didn't stay to become a researcher, but if I had, it woudl have been more of teh same, but with more teaching.



However, there are many, many physicists working in industry, and doing a degree and even a PhD in physics doesn't close down your options in any way - so you coudl explore your interest at physics at University, even do a PhD, and you would still be enhancing your employment prospects. Popular jobs for physicists include industrial research, which is quite similar to research in a University, but more targeted, and you're trying to get a product at the end of it. The pay is better, and because thinsg move a bit quicker, it can be less frustrating.



Software development is also a popular choice - this could be working on control systems, or modelling some process. One area which is popular at the moment is programming computer games - its one of the few jobs where people have the job title of "physicist", ironically. Physicists are important here to ensure that, for instance, racing cars move (and crash!) realistically.



Moving away from research, a large number of physics graduates each year go into finance, accountancy, management consultancy. Not everyone's thing, but the pay's good, and physics is seen as one of the best degrees for these careers, because it teaches you how to think, and how to work with numbers.



If you're in the UK, have a look at the Institute of Physics web site (www.iop.org), and also www.physics .org which gives lots of information about physics, and guides on degrees etc. You don't say what stage in your education/career you are at, but if you are thinking of studying physics at University, there is a guide to courses here: http://www.physics.org/study.asp?contentid=380

Answer 3

If you end up doing astrophysics or theoretical physics, or any other kind of physics without industrial applications, you will most likely eventually end up teaching at a university. So part of your time will be spent giving lectures, grading papers, etc., and also doing some administrative tasks like helping to recruit students, writing applications for grant funding, etc. There are also other things like supervising graduate student thesis projects which are partly research, partly teaching.



The rest of your time will be spent doing research, and this is probably the part you're wondering about. Exactly what the daily tasks will be for this part depend very specifically on what type of physics you do.



If you're an experimental physicist, you'll spend time in the lab, putting together experiments, and doing them. You might also spend a lot of time analyzing the data that comes out of the experiments, and doing calculations to try to interpret those data. If you're an astronomer, you might spend a small amount of time at telescopes, and almost all the rest analyzing data.



If you're a theoretical physicist, you'll spend time thinking up ideas about how things work, testing them by doing calculations, and then trying to make additional predictions so that experiments can test your theory. Nowadays, very often most or all of the calculations will be done on computers, rather than with a paper and pencil, so you will spend a lot of time writing and running computer programs.



If you want to get a better feel for this, write or call the department office for physics or astronomy at a local university and ask if you can shadow a graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, or a professor for a day.

Answer 4

Mostly, you'll end up computer programming. ;) Astrophysics, like high energy particle physics (what I work in) depends a lot on computer simulation. In simple terms, if you work in analysis you take the theory, model it, and see if it fits experimental results. Or, you might be involved in R&D for new telescopes, or other detectors, which will involve much more hands on testing of materials or designining components to do specific things based on your knowledge of materials, circuitry or magnetic fields.



To be a theorist you have to have extremely good maths and reasoning skills, since you need to able to understand complex theories behind physics phenomena and expand or refine those to hopefully produce new ones!



In the day to day running of things, it maybe doesn't sound exciting, but it is an incredible subject to study. As a particle physicist, day-to-day I sit in front of a computer in a university office, but I am a member of the largest scientific collaboration in the world (at the LHC). In the course of my research I attend meetings, conferences and schools all around the world, spend a lot of time working at CERN in Geneva and am working to discover the answers to some of the unanswered questions of the universe.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

What Allan pronounced! Your information of what physicists do is fairly constrained! the only physicists you seem to show screen of incorporate in the two astrophysics or nuclear physics. Physicists are in contact in a lot greater suitable than in basic terms organic technological information! I spent maximum of my occupation doing utility for a number of varieties of gadgets like mass spectrometers, and that i've got worked with somewhat some physicists interior the technique. Physicists of path do organic technological information, in many aspects previous those you stated, yet in addition are in contact in issues like coming up new products of all varieties. have you ever heard of effective state physics? it somewhat is the form of the components and methods for making those cool little semiconductor chips that our cutting-edge digital society is built on. i might desire to flow on in spite of the indisputable fact that it somewhat is previous due and that i'm getting drained. particularly of the profoundly ignorant rant you published right here, how approximately you get some books on technological information and what scientists do. learn a minimum of what the words recommend! a good concept so you might bear in mind: greater effective to stay silent and be concept a fool than to talk up and do away with all doubt.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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Answer 9

If you have talents and interest in this area you should become an applied physicists. An applied physicist is also known as an engineer. Engineering is a much better career path.



Rather than poking at the basic building blocks of matter, struggling with 10 years of graduate school, dealing with large egos, competing for the few available jobs, and getting paid a trifle compared to your abilities, consider having a rewarding career building things, working with teams of well financed talented people, having jobs available anywhere, having employers compete to get you and making very good money.



Many physicist wind up as engineers anyway to get a job. But they start out in the work force at a disadvantage often.



Get your undergrad degree in applied physics. Then get a masters degree in a branch of engineering. You'd be surprised how much theoretical physics is involved in aero/astro engineering, or material science. The difference is that you will apply it to building things.



When I was in grad school in Electrical Engineering our school taught the quantum mechanics class that the physicist had to take. The semi-conductor engineers had a much better handle on the subject since they used it to build things.

Answer 10

The physicist deals with all aspects of matter and energy. His or her work ranges from basic research into the most fundamental laws of nature to the practical development of devices and instruments. The study of physics falls into many categories. These include studies of the motion and properties of physical objects both large and small (classical and quantum mechanics, astrophysics), the properties of waves (optics, acoustics, electromagnetics), the properties of states of matter (solid state, plasma physics), and the fundamental properties of matter and energy (atomic, nuclear, and particle physics). Because of the vast range of subject matter, at the graduate level physicists tend to specialize in one of these categories. Across most categories, physicists also tend to specialize in theoretical and experimental work. Theoretical physicists use mathematical concepts to analyze and predict the behavior of the physical world. Experimental physicists use laboratory experiments to verify these theoretical predictions or develop devices and instruments. Physicists tend to be curious, creative, and dedicated. The majority of physicists are employed by universities and divide their time between research, teaching, and writing scientific articles. Many physicists work independently on problems, while others work in laboratories as part of teams for the duration of particular projects. Physicists working in industry are a varied lot. Many work in traditional areas just like the university physicists, but many branch out into engineering fields and other scientific fields, working with engineers and other scientists in overlapping areas. Because of their broad scientific background, physicists in industry are known for their ability to work in many areas and have helped create many non-traditional fields. Physics is not for the faint-hearted, but for those with good mathematical skills who want a broad scientific education and the ability to branch out later into other fields, physics may be just the thing. Like those in many other scientific fields, a physicist’s career progresses from being a team member doing hands-on work to being a team leader, responsible for developing new projects, running existing ones, and raising money to fund the project. One Ivy League physicist complains that fundraising is a necessary evil in his line of work. In both universities and industry, there have been recent cutbacks in research funding that have affected almost everyone in the field.

Excellent mathematical skills and statistical knowledge are required of the physicist, who will spend a large part of his academic life studying these subjects. The physicist must be as competent in these areas as any mathematician or statistician. Computer knowledge is also key. The most successful physicists go beyond a bachelor’s degree to get a master’s and then a doctorate, which entails a significant piece of original research. Without postgraduate degrees, it’s generally difficult to find work as a physicist. Those who do land a job in this field with only a B.S. will find that they need to further their studies if they want to progress beyond rudimentary lab duties.

A large number of nonpracticing physicists end up teaching. Depending on the degree she has, a physicist can teach science in high school or at the college level. A background in physics along with some writing talent can also help you procure a job in scientific journalism. The field most closely related to physics is engineering. Engineers need to have a sophisticated knowledge of physics, but the course of study is often not as long. There are also fields that unite physics with other sciences. Biophysicists, for example, study the processes of life by bringing together physics, chemistry, and biology. Astrophysicists are involved in developing theories about the origin of the universe and the physical mechanisms which have generated the objects seen by astronomers. Astronomy is one of the laboratories for testing fundamental theories about the nature of matter and energy from relativity to particle physics.

Two Years Out





Physicists report very high levels of satisfaction with their chosen profession at all levels. Very few leave the field at this time. Physicists are a dedicated lot, and after having spent upwards of seven years preparing for this career they rarely lose interest so soon.





Five Years Out





Those who leave the field at this time sometimes report feeling like failures for the first year or so in the broader job market. They do, however, find their educational backgrounds to be invaluable assets. A doctoral degree in physics can open a number of doors in other fields.





Ten Years Out





Many physicists leave the profession at this time because they feel they have “topped out” in their field. They go on to seek employment that will allow them to use their scientific background in less scientific ventures. A number of physicists report, however, that they miss being physicists.



# of people in profession: 18,000

Average hours per week: 40

Average starting salary: $28,500

Average salary after 5 years: $55,000

Average salary after 10 to 15 years: $75,000