What fields of physics are there?

[BluberryPi]

I was looking into being a physicist (it sounds fun) and I discovered there were multiple fields. However my source was Wikipedia, and I need more information.
What fields of physics are there?
By field, I mean things like Astrophysics and Particle Physics.

 

[davenn]

I was looking into being a physicist (it sounds fun) and I discovered there were multiple fields. However my source was Wikipedia, and I need more information.
What fields of physics are there?
By field, I mean things like Astrophysics and Particle Physics.

so other than those two, what others did your discover ?

 

[ZapperZ]

I was looking into being a physicist (it sounds fun) and I discovered there were multiple fields. However my source was Wikipedia, and I need more information.
What fields of physics are there?
By field, I mean things like Astrophysics and Particle Physics.

You may want to look at this thread for a start:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/for-physicists-what-area-do-you-specialize-in-revamped.904896/

... and then go to the various professional physics organizations such as APS and IoP to look at the various subdivisions that they have. (Example: http://www.aps.org/membership/units/index.cfm) These loosely correspond to the various fields in physics.

Zz.

 

[Demystifier]

I was looking into being a physicist (it sounds fun) and I discovered there were multiple fields. However my source was Wikipedia, and I need more information.
What fields of physics are there?
By field, I mean things like Astrophysics and Particle Physics.

Perhaps you first need to decide whether you want to be an experimental or a theoretical physicist. What is more fun for you?

 

[BluberryPi]

I am interested in Particle Physics, but also Chemical Physics and Astrophysics.
Can I choose more than one?

 

[jtbell]

For a career, i.e. graduate-school student and onwards, you pretty much have to specialize in one field. The good news is you're a long way from having to decide which field, because (according to your previous posts) you're in 8th grade now. Even in college/university, bachelor's degree programs (in the US) are mostly "generic", with a core of standard courses that everyone takes (classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics / statistical mechanics), plus electives on topics that you become interested in, plus math. I think most students don't decide which field they're going to (try to) pursue in grad school until junior/senior year in college.

Even in grad school, students often change their minds. When I started grad school, I thought I was going to do low-temperature physics. I ended up with a Ph.D. in experimental elementary particle physics (specifically, neutrinos).

Your strategy now should be simply to read a lot about physics and expose yourself to a wide variety of topics. Pop-science stuff tends to focus on cosmology, astrophysics and elementary particle physics, but there's a lot more out there, including fields with a lot more long-term jobs.

When I was in college, I joined the Society of Physics Students and got Physics Today magazine as part of my membership. I still read it today, as part of my American Physical Society membership. Back then I couldn't get very far into most of the articles (some of them I still can't! ) but at least I got an idea of what was going on. Some of it (looks like mostly news and commentary) is available online for free:

http://physicstoday.scitation.org/journal/pto

When I was in college (early 1970s) the Internet didn't exist, and I was at a small college, not a big university, so my options for getting news about physics were limited. Things are different now! Try to aim for professional- or semi-professional-level material, i.e. the stuff that scientists themselves read to broaden their knowledge. Like Physics Today. I also used to read Science magazine a lot. Its research articles slant more towards biology etc., but the news articles include a fair amount of physics.

 

[BluberryPi]

Thank you everyone. For know, I think I'm going into cosmology. It seems fun.