What to do once you'v learned Quantum Physics

[bugs]

Hi all,

I was reading John Gribbins book In search of shroedingers cat yesterday, and it got me thinking, I`m about to embark on a open university Degree in Physics. If you became specialised in quantum physics then what kind of jobs or career propects would you have, There are many jobs where you can put Physics to use but, I can't think of ANY where you would use Quantum Thoery.

Craig Dunn

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I too am going to embark on an Open University degree in a year or so, currently studying intermediate courses in maths to bring me up to speed with the level of maths at degree level(which is no doubt worse than I think ) I work in a medical physics dept as well. I can tell you that although quatnum mechanics is not a huge part of the jobs in my department, it does play a role in many research areas which is why you need a degree in physics to become a clinical scientist, quantum mechanics is involved particularly those who work with body scanners(MRI) where body doses and absorption rates use QM and to some extent radiotherapy devices.

Without going into a pure reasearch job or post dotorate research though I'm not sure of any jobs that use a huge amount of Quantum mechanics priniciples, but there are no doubt quite a few, who at the very least nod to it. Perhaps others could enlighten you of Job opportunities in other areas, and don't forget although the Job market is rather Engineering orientated, there are a shortage of Physicists in the UK, so provided your flexible in the sort of work you want, it shouldn't be too hard to get ahead. Oh and of course a Physics degree is considered a mark of distinction on any CV, so you may well end up in a job that doesn't use physics at all, for example a lot of Physicists were poached for jobs in the stock exchange in the 80's.

 

[ZapperZ]

Hi all,

I was reading John Gribbins book In search of shroedingers cat yesterday, and it got me thinking, I`m about to embark on a open university Degree in Physics. If you became specialised in quantum physics then what kind of jobs or career propects would you have, There are many jobs where you can put Physics to use but, I can't think of ANY where you would use Quantum Thoery.

Craig Dunn

Er... you do realize that the whole of Solid State Physics is nothing more than the application of QM. This means that the electronics that you are using were built using QM.

Zz.

 

[Gokul43201]

Hi all,

I was reading John Gribbins book In search of shroedingers cat yesterday, and it got me thinking, I`m about to embark on a open university Degree in Physics. If you became specialised in quantum physics

Unless you intend to go into the foundations, quantum physics is not really an area of specialization in physics - it is merely a tool used by people in different areas within physics. You will find less than one in every hundred physicists describe themselves as quantum physicists, yet most are proficient in its use.