Physics Are There Really Only 5000 Astrophysicists?

[DeepSpace9]

I heard there are about 5000 real Astrophysicists in the USA or the world.. Is this true? And if so, why is the number so low? I'm in my second year of AP major.. With such a low number of actual Astrophysicists out there, should I change my major? Chemistry would be my 2nd choice.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Define "real".

Sounds like a "no real Scotsman" fallacy to me.

 

[DeepSpace9]

Dr. in Astrophysics and are doing research for some scientific organization.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Dr of Science or PhD?

I imagine there are not that many jobs with that description ... may be ballpark if you restrict the estimate to one country.

 

[meanrev]

Waiting for the next person who clicked on this link picturing 5 million astrophysicists.

 

[deekin]

I was thinking the same thing as meanrev.

 

[DeepSpace9]

Dr. In Astrophysicists, but can I have a straight forward opinion.
I'm Majoring in astrophysics and this is what I want to do with my life, but I'm only 20 and I'm assuming some of you guys are a lot older than me.. Is it difficult to get a job as an astrophysicist, or should I change my major? If the statistics are low on jobs in this industry I will change my major, help??

 

[twofish-quant]

I heard there are about 5000 real Astrophysicists in the USA or the world.. Is this true?

As an order of magnitude that sounds about right

http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/emptrends.html

Look at the bottom for the number for the FTE's.

And if so, why is the number so low?

Same reasons why there are so few professional football players.

I'm in my second year of AP major.. With such a low number of actual Astrophysicists out there, should I change my major? Chemistry would be my 2nd choice.

It depends on what you want to do with your life. Personally, I got my doctorate in astrophysics, then went out and worked in industry, and things turned out very, very well for me, and there are a ton of astrophysicists on Wall Street. Other people have had different experiences.

One thing that I like is that because there are few jobs directly involved in astrophysics, I had to get creative with figuring out what to do with my degree.