Questions for an aspiring physicist

[gregy521]

I'm currently 16, pretty young to be thinking about my future like this I know, but I really like science. Not so much experimental but that might change seeing as how the only ones I do right now are really really basic and don't interest me at all.

But that's not to say I don't like science. The complete opposite. I'm looking at much more interesting topics like particle spin, strangeness, projectile motion, classical mechanics and a large amount of advanced mathematics.

I'm going into college next year (UK) And taking Maths, further maths, physics and computer science, and I want to end up getting tenure at a University as a professor. (I know what you're thinking, "YOU'RE CRAZY! NOBODY GETS TENURE!" and it's a dream, not necessarily a reality) which means getting a bachelors, masters, doctorate and postdoc experience. I just want to know,

• What is life as a physicist like in general?
• What is the salary like as a minimum? (I'm not in it for the money by the way)
• Academia, Industry or Government pros and cons?
• Where would I go to talk to physicists and ask more questions like this?
  

 

[berkeman]

I'm currently 16, pretty young to be thinking about my future like this I know, but I really like science. Not so much experimental but that might change seeing as how the only ones I do right now are really really basic and don't interest me at all.

But that's not to say I don't like science. The complete opposite. I'm looking at much more interesting topics like particle spin, strangeness, projectile motion, classical mechanics and a large amount of advanced mathematics.

I'm going into college next year (UK) And taking Maths, further maths, physics and computer science, and I want to end up getting tenure at a University as a professor. (I know what you're thinking, "YOU'RE CRAZY! NOBODY GETS TENURE!" and it's a dream, not necessarily a reality) which means getting a bachelors, masters, doctorate and postdoc experience. I just want to know,

• What is life as a physicist like in general?
• What is the salary like as a minimum? (I'm not in it for the money by the way)
• Academia, Industry or Government pros and cons?
• Where would I go to talk to physicists and ask more questions like this?

Have a look through some of the PF Education Insights articles about physics:

https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/category/education/

See especially the "So you want to be a Physicist" series on page 2 of that set of Insights...