Any people on here done a physics degree?

[Henry1990]

Anyone on here completed a physics degree? If so what job are you doing now? I'm just curious because from what I've read, a lot of people after completing a physic degree go into engineering or completely unrelated work.

Also did you find the course interesting, specifically physics with astrophysics?

[Nillchill]

I did applied physics at Lacs Poly ( Uni of Central Lancs now) it was an excellent course. spent the last 24 years working in electronics and communications and data networking, but have always retained my love of physics and astronomy. 

Physics gives you a very good base from which to build a career off of

[Laurie61]

I have not but my brother did, a degree and PhD from Sheffield. He has had offers to go and work in industry but prefers to stay in academia doing research. 

[jgs001]

I have a degree in Applied Physics from Kingston (Poly as it was then)... I'm in IT support. I've used more of my degree over the past few years having gotten into Astronomy and Photography, than at any other point since graduating. 

I did find the course interesting, and, if I'm honest quite a lot of fun, given the kit we got to "play" work with

[Henry1990]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm was planning on doing a engineering degree but physics might be a more interesting option, especially since most engineering jobs seem to accept a physics degree as a valid qualification.

I have not but my brother did, a degree and PhD from Sheffield. He has had offers to go and work in industry but prefers to stay in academia doing research. 

Do you know what research your brother does?

[George Jones]

I have Ph.D. in physics, and I have spent most of the last 20 years teaching physics (and some engineering and maths) lectures and labs at a number of Canadian and U.S. universities..

I am currently a Senior Lab Instructor at a small Canadian university, where I also teach some lecture courses, e.g., I am teaching second-year electromagnetism lectures in September.

[Jim Steele]

I have a degree in particle physics and cosmology and a PhD. Now a materials scientist, not exactly the job I wanted but keeps my interest and the job is varied. I do alot of spectroscopy so hope to pick that up as a hobby with the astronomy.

Would love to be a professional cosmologist but alas I've been out of the game too long.

[Macavity]

Unable to decide definitively, I did a Joint Hons degree in Physics & Chemistry - Though I note *my* course is sadly no more. Cooperation was good between the two departments and it was possible to attend all core component lectures in both subjects. Subjects of specialist interest could the be added, according to taste. Maybe Cambridge still does their (flexible) "Natural Sciences" thing too?

But meanwhile, back in "Redbrick Land": I found it a good general science education (more like 120% of the normal degree contents!). A certain overlap sometimes - e.g. Quantum Physics tended to "trump" Quantum Chemistry, if you get my drift! Though the latter added practical examples to the "drier" physicist approach. Chemists have (are!) more fun? [teasing]

Inspired by late 70's (yes, way back then!) Particle Physics discoveries, I went on to do a Ph.D. therein. I think it took them longer to decide whether I was "good enough"  - They might "prefer" candidates with degrees in Physics or Physics & Maths? lol. But I still went on to do about seven years Post Doc at CERN (DESY etc.) ... Rather regret returning to the UK, if truth be told.

Maybe there are still Universities that do JOINT (Hons) degrees? I thought they were good thing!

Worthwhile searching both "Physics + X" *and* "Engineering + X" and checking detailed contents? 

Modern, more "tailored" and "hybrid" courses, have less obvious (to me anyway!) names...

[ollypenrice]

I have Ph.D. in physics, and I have spent most of the last 20 years teaching physics (and some engineering and maths) lectures and labs at a number of Canadian and U.S. universities..

I am currently a Senior Lab Instructor at a small Canadian university, where I also teach some lecture courses, e.g., I am teaching second-year electromagnetism lectures in September.

I wish I could attend them, George!

Olly

[Stevp]

I have a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the university of york.

I found the course great, but by the final year it was certainly challenging! Maybe a bit too much time enjoying uni on my part.

Afterward I went in to a career in IT support currently working for a multinational in the chemical/manufacturing sector.

[Henry1990]

I have a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the university of york.

I found the course great, but by the final year it was certainly challenging! Maybe a bit too much time enjoying uni on my part.

Afterward I went in to a career in IT support currently working for a multinational in the chemical/manufacturing sector.

York would actually be my first choice to do this course.

What's the physic department like there? And what's the uni like in general?

[Stevp]

Hi Henry,

I'll pm you tomorrow if you wanna chat more. Just heading for an early night (!!). In short, the uni and course were both great and id have no hesitation in recommending it, but i'll elaborate on that further of course.

[Laurie61]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm was planning on doing a engineering degree but physics might be a more interesting option, especially since most engineering jobs seem to accept a physics degree as a valid qualification.

Do you know what research your brother does?

He is 51 now and has been involved in all sorts through the years. Did work on machine vision including building transputer's for running the software. He has been involved with the BMVA for years, also medical with body scanners, he and his PhD student haave been helping Chris Lintott and the Moon Zoo group with software for recognising craters and other features in images recently.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/neil.a.thacker/research

http://earthandsolarsystem.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/planet-mapping-via-computer-vision/

[JamesF]

He is 51 now and has been involved in all sorts through the years. Did work on machine vision including building transputer's for running the software. He has been involved with the BMVA for years, also medical with body scanners, he and his PhD student haave been helping Chris Lintott and the Moon Zoo group with software for recognising craters and other features in images recently.

Sounds like fun.  I'd completely forgotten about the Transputer (and Occam).  I recall that there was a good deal of interest in it when I was doing my Computer Science degree at Warwick in the late 80s.

James

[Laurie61]

Sounds like fun.  I'd completely forgotten about the Transputer (and Occam).  I recall that there was a good deal of interest in it when I was doing my Computer Science degree at Warwick in the late 80s.

James

I think the Transputers became redundant with the huge improvement in performance of 'off the shelf' computers. I think they ended up using Sun work stations ? 

[Chris]

I did my degree in astronomy at herts uni 2000 to 2004 and every module seemed to have physics in the title so I guess it counts I initially went back to engineering after the degree for a small aerospace company but eventually found being stuck in front of a lathe all day a bit soul destroying so I went to work for the nhs. Initially I worked as a health care assistant before doing a second degree in diagnostic radiography which also has a bit of physics in. Been qualified for 5 years now and quite settled in this role

[AstroJon]

I did a masters degree in astrophysics and spent some time as a post grad which involved an observing session in Chile. I found it very interesting but I've always enjoyed physics and astronomy.

I do work in engineering yes but I need a good knowledge of physics too.