Migrating from physics to mathematics

[kent davidge]

Is it usual people in your country migrating from physics to pure mathematics? I study in a federal university and two of my mathematics professors have a phd in physics and nowadays teach (and do research) mathematics at the uni.

To work as a professor at this uni one needs to have a huge knowledge on the field. So that means those two professors dominate the mathematics despite having a phd in physics.

Also, it seems that a PF member (Mattias) has also done that as well.

 

[jedishrfu]

Perhaps @Orodruin could respond here.

 

[Orodruin]

Also, it seems that a PF member (Mattias) has also done that as well.

It is not clear to me if this refers to me or not. Regardless, I am not teaching any pure mathematics courses. I teach at a physics department and the course that I taught and inspired me to start writing my book is really a course about applying maths to do physics, as is the book itself, and thus not your regular pure mathematics course. It is about the mathematics and its application to physics.

That being said, how mathematics are taught, in particular to non-mathematics students (e.g., to physics students) depends a lot on the university. At my university, the mathematics department is generally in charge of all mathematics courses, but there are also universities where physics programs will be taught almost exclusively by physicists - including the math courses. Also, it is not so much what your PhD says as what kind of knowledge you posses. The line between many of the more theoretical branches of physics and mathematics is often very blurred so it would not be very strange for someone with a degree in physics to pursue a career in a mathematics department - again, depending on the field of study.