What is Physics?

• Most people think foundations physics (dark matter, quantum gravity, particle colliders) due to headlines
• Reality: most physicists work on "grounded stuff"
• Biggest research area: condensed matter physics (rarely heard about)
  • Superconductors, semiconductors, liquid crystals
  • Close to material science
• Other major areas: fluid dynamics, statistical mechanics, plasmas, optics, quantum optics, atomic/nuclear physics
• Physics work: analyzing, modeling, understanding, creating theories and devices
• Physics sits between engineering and mathematics

Being a Physicist as a Job

• Physics is job like any other - learn how to do it, then do it
• Not about waking up knowing dark matter and winning Nobel Prize
• Requires learning techniques, methodologies, background knowledge
• Learning by doing in both experiment and theory development
• PhD duration: 8-10 years depending on country/field
  • Maybe faster if genius, but 8 years typical for most people
  • Significant life commitment, many drop out in first couple years
• PhD not always necessary - bachelor's/master's might suffice depending on aims
• PhD demonstrates ability to do independent research
• Practical PhD reality: reading papers you don't understand, writing papers no one reads, answering nonsensical reviewer comments, forgetting sunlight
• PhD helps with starting salary even outside research

Required Skills

• Mathematics proficiency - absolutely essential, no way around it
• Increasingly requires coding skills
• Drawing Greek letters correctly (sigma shouldn't look like six)
• Most important: motivation - research must matter to you
• Need motivation to survive: buggy code, three rejected papers, supervisor who communicates in cryptic science
• Unless you're "one mega brain in million," it will be hard

Job Prospects and Statistics

• ~50% of physics PhDs leave academia directly after PhD
• Fraction increases somewhat in years following
• Data from US, similar in Europe
• Unemployment rate among physicists generally low, below population average
• Similar patterns in North America and Europe
• Academic permanent positions: fraction landing them decreasing for decades
• Not specific to physics but important to know
• Academic job prospects currently "miserable"
• Most pursuing academic careers move countries, usually multiple times post-PhD
• Academic path: stressful, unfriendly to private life, detrimental to mental health
• Many physicists leave academia for secure, better-paid private sector positions
• Personal example: husband (also physics PhD) got permanent private sector position directly after thesis, served as safety backup during funding gaps

Academic Job Reality

• Academic positions mix research and teaching
• Rare to find positions without teaching duties (mostly at private institutes)
• Additional duties: management, administration, mentoring, grant writing, reviewing, organizing workshops, faculty meetings, tracking borrowed whiteboard markers

Career Paths Outside Academia

• Banking, investment, insurance - "very well-trodden path"
  • Finance math books explain why it's not big step
• Government advisory or patent offices
• Teaching and scientific publishing
• Interactive data access work
• Corporate research
• Startup founding
• Current trends: renewable energies, quantum tech
• Public relations and science communication
• Weather service work
• Pandemic modeling
• CERN tracking data for particle physicists leaving academia:
  • Most became software engineers
  • Followed by: analyst, manager, consultant

Overall Assessment

• PhD in physics = versatile education good for many things
• Speaker has no regrets about physics PhD (though regrets some research topic choices)
• Physics can be tough but education worth the pain
• University not only way to learn physics

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