Minimum Salary with a Degree in Natural/Physical Science: What's the Standard?

[l-1j-cho]

I've been reading through posts about the jobs with degree in natural/physical science. And the common statement is that, if money is your biggest concern, you should not go for phd in these subjects.

What is the minimum salary per year that one earns if he concerns money is the most important thing in his life? What is the standard? Because some might be satisfied with 50k while others might not.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

What you earn largely depends on where and how you are comfortable living. If you're not immediately interested in raising a family, if you're content living in a low rent area, if your taste for food is not particularly expensive, then you may be in a good position to pursue that PhD.

To a certain degree, we all have to make compromises between what we like doing and what we need to do to earn a living.

 

[l-1j-cho]

Hmm, so it heavily depends on individuals

May I ask you one more?
According to this website, http://www.ehow.com/about_5084499_physicist-salary-range.html, the lowest 10 percentile earns about 50k.
That's a lot more than I expected, because, reading some negative posts in this forum, I thought an average physicist earns about 30k. (I must clarify that all applied physics or mathematics jobs are excluded)

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

The General study of Physics covers a very broad range of subjects. Clearly some endeavors will be more lucrative than others. For example, if you study gas dynamics so that you can build better turbo-machinery or the superconductivity of materials, someone will definitely be interested. On the other hand, if you are eager to join the hunt for Higgs Boson, well, the competition is fierce, and thus the wages will likely be meager.

 

[l-1j-cho]

rofl I don;t know why but I tend to classify physicists who study classical physics as engineers... My hasty assumption has failed me lol
So phd in quantum mechanics, high energy physics, or cosmology will get you about 30k?

 

[hadsed]

No.. the only way to study high energy physics, cosmology, or anything like that is to be a professor. Professors can make anywhere from around 65-100K, maybe more (depends on a few things, like whether they get to be dean and if they live in Boston or somewhere much less expensive than Boston). When you're looking to do these sorts of topics for a living, you're looking at an extremely small number of people being hired at all, so at that point you're not really concerned about wages.

Also, postdocs get around 30-50K, but they're only 1-3 year appointments.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

I really have no idea what physicists make. I could be all wrong about those who are pursuing the Higgs Boson, or those who seek money so that they can doodle around on white boards with their buddies, drink coffee, and discuss new facets about string theory math.

But something tells me that those who can't sell their own research efforts too well are destined to become a serf in some larger physics project. As with most such grandiose endeavors, a few will earn very nice livings, while most of the rest are consigned to a career of anonymity.

My point of telling you this is that you need to learn to communicate ideas and speculation very well. Carl Sagan isn't remembered much for his discoveries. He is remembered because he narrated a wonderful TV show. Stephen Hawking is mostly known because of a best selling book he wrote. Richard Feynman is well known for his filmed lectures on classical and modern physics and for a book written about his infamous antics.

Do you see what I'm getting at? To make REAL money in physics you need to not only be well educated, but an artist and a communicator as well.

 

[Pengwuino]

rofl I don;t know why but I tend to classify physicists who study classical physics as engineers... My hasty assumption has failed me lol
So phd in quantum mechanics, high energy physics, or cosmology will get you about 30k?

God no. Despite what most people think, Physicists are pretty decently paid, especially if you're an experimentalist and work in industry or finance. You could make $100k a year after a while depending on what field you're in. Of course, as others have pointed out, your living expenses could vary so that if you're off on wall street in New York, your 6 figure salary still may not be much.

The real point to make though is that if you want to become a multi-millionaire or want to do the least work for the most money, a physics PhD is not the place to be.

 

[l-1j-cho]

woah I don't want to famous as Hawking or Feynman. I just want to live in a small house made up of bricks in a small town with my family, enjoy a cup of tea and play the piano and violin and trumpet and flute, teach or research physics at nearby institution

I don't want to live in higly civilised cities like NYC. Also, I will be satisfied with 70k at the peak of my career

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

I used famous people to illustrate my point. The better you are at communicating, the better you will be paid. Technical ability will get you noticed by the inside group, but it doesn't usually pay the bills.

Furthermore, life has a funny way of changing your priorities. No matter what you thought would be an adequate salary, I can pretty nearly guarantee that the bar will move up in time.

The more you can sell your expertise and personality to the rest of the world, the more money you can earn. This is true, not just for physicists, but of most other professions as well.

 

[Pengwuino]

woah I don't want to famous as Hawking or Feynman. I just want to live in a small house made up of bricks in a small town with my family, enjoy a cup of tea and play the piano and violin and trumpet and flute, teach or research physics at nearby institution

I don't want to live in higly civilised cities like NYC. Also, I will be satisfied with 70k at the peak of my career

You say that now, but reality will eventually settle in. Even if you don't ever imagine yourself having a country club golf membership or something like that, there are always bills to pay and if you have a family, a whole mess of things you'll need to buy or pay for over many many years.

 

[l-1j-cho]

No matter what you thought would be an adequate salary, I can pretty nearly guarantee that the bar will move up in time .

Right when I was 8 years old, I thought 24k was enough to live like an average person. But as I grew up, I realized that there are so many things to consider, so I lifted up the bar yo 70k.

Well, as almost all of people here advise, I should get a double degree in applied science+pure science!

How about quantum physics+cryptography? Even a field named 'Quantum cryptography' exists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_cryptography
Can anyone provide me some information about this field?

 

[twofish-quant]

What is the minimum salary per year that one earns if he concerns money is the most important thing in his life? What is the standard? Because some might be satisfied with 50k while others might not.

The point is that most people that make $50K don't have Ph.D.'s. If you want to make $50K/year, there are a thousand ways of doing it that will cause you less pain than if getting a Ph.D.

If you want to get a Ph.D., but don't want to starve, that's different.

 

[l-1j-cho]

how different is it exactly?