r/Physics • u/Beginning_Alfalfa977 • May 01 '26

How theoretical physics is my ex, and experimental physics my rebound.

Like a lot of physics majors, my pipeline started on YouTube. I spent my high school years binge-watching Veritasium and Vsauce, getting absolutely captivated by the sexy, mind-bending concepts of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Fast forward to my junior year of college. I still love those concepts, and I’d like to think I’m fairly educated on them now, but actually being in university made me realize something painful: there are levels to this shit. To actually make a name for yourself in theoretical physics, you can’t just be smart but you have to be brilliant. My math is decent, but I quickly realized I am pretty inept when it comes to the deep, grueling mathematical physics required to push the theoretical boundaries of our universe. It also really doesn't help that theoretical physics generally does not pay well unless you are literally the absolute greatest in your field.

But here’s the rant/happy ending: somehow, amidst getting humbled by theory, I accidentally grew a massive love for experimentation.

There is genuinely no better feeling on earth than crunching the theoretical predictions and then watching them actually occur right in front of you in your own experiment. I’m currently studying semiconductors, and I’ve developed a deep, borderline obsessive fondness for producing samples and testing its physical properties.

It gave me a place to belong in this major. I might not be the next Roger Penrose, but I completely compensate for my lack of god-tier math with my experimental techniques.

I just love how much skill expression there is in experimental physics. It genuinely makes you feel like an artisan. Obviously, the theoretical background is important, but out in the lab, it’s the subtle steps, the physical intuition, and the tiny changes in your technique that make or break your experiment. It's an art form, and I love it.

Just wanted to get that off my chest. Anyone else go through that pipeline?

TL;DR: Got into physics because of pop-sci videos about quantum mechanics. Realized in college that I'm not a generational math genius and theoretical physics doesn't pay anyway. Fell in love with making experiments in the lab instead.

116 Upvotes

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33

u/QuantumMechanic23 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

I went through a worse pipeline:

Infatuated with physics in high school from the double slit experiment. Fall in love with QM and want to do all the maths behind it.

Go to uni have a horrid experience with experimental physics. Love the maths. It's looking good.

Understand PhD's get paid ass, temp post-docs sounds like literal death, academia seems like an fun-rewarding, unnecessarily grueling, underpaid cesspit.

Understand I chose to go to a university with not a high ranking and competitive academia actually cares about that... Whoops

Leave for a place where I can get a stable job, but still want to be called a physicist.

Becomes a medical physicist after several years of a masters and residency.

Realise I'm a glorified technician.

Now trying to collaborate with other researchers to get some physics-y research into my job for no extra pay...

Wait... Do I want to go back into academia or do i stay the course?

(caught in endless loop of mental suffering)

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u/civis_romanus May 02 '26

If you’re a medical physicist then you know things about radiation dosing. You could parlay that into a position in the Radiation Protection department at a national lab.

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u/QuantumMechanic23 6d ago

I appreciate the response. Although, from what I know working in radiation protection, it's paid worse and often more technical/even less physics involved than medical physics.

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u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26

If you aren’t publishing papers in physics journals you aren’t a physicist sorry to say. Goes for every scientific discipline. Would you call a medical doctor a “chemist” because they majored in chemistry when they were 21? Or a CS major a “computer scientist” when their job is making Gacha games for twelve year olds? Having a degree in a field != being a professional of that field.

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u/QuantumMechanic23 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

My legal title is medical physicist, I'm employed as a medical physicist, and I work as a medical physicist... What would you call me in the hospital instead?

Who says I'm not participating actively in research? Have I published a paper yet while in this job? No. Will I? Hopefully.

The only difference is, I'm not enslaved by poor wage academia and publish or perish culture.

I can legally apply for the charted physicist (CPhys) title with the institute of physics in my role.

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u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

Call your position whatever you want gang. Any applied field is not science by definition. Are mechanical engineers physicists too? Are high school math teachers mathematicians? I don’t give a shit about academia. I am an academic only because it pays me to be a physicist, and there are no other jobs that would do since I am a theorist.

Now if you are doing physics research, whether you are being paid or not, I’d say that you’re a physicist. But it is not your primary occupation it seems. I don’t consider being paid as necessary validation for one’s pursuits.

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u/CMxFuZioNz Plasma physics May 01 '26

I know people are downvoting this because your tone isn't the nicest, but fundamentally what else is a scientist if not someone who does science. And doing science means you are doing research.

I guess you could say not all physicists are scientists, but that doesn't feel like a valid thing to say.

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u/mfb- Particle physics May 02 '26

OP is doing research (based on their comments). You don't need to write publications in order to do research.

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u/QuantumMechanic23 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

I agree with that, but if I'm actively participating in research, even if applied research am I still not a scientist until I manage to publish?

I wouldn't say all physicists are not scientists because a physicist is a scientist.

I'd say not all medical physicsts are physicsts unless they are actively doing research rather than just the clinical job.

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u/CMxFuZioNz Plasma physics May 01 '26

Oh I don't agree with that part, I think you can be a researcher without publishing, although it's of course usually the goal

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u/QuantumMechanic23 May 01 '26

Well I stared in my original post I am actively attempting research. It is applied physics, related to my work. I get my honorary lectureship next month and I'll try and see if I can get help with publishing.

I fully agree that the majority of medical physicsts are indeed not physicsts as they do not try research or misclasify appraisal, auditing and integrating new technology as research.

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u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26

Yup. I don’t care if people call me an asshole cause I know I am only saying something objectively true. And idk why people are accusing me of being insecure, I don’t think any profession is any better than any other, nor do I feel the need to prove myself as a physicist, as I know I fit the definition. I’m literally just stating the definition of a physicist as I see it.

1

u/Ok_Construction5119 May 01 '26

i can see why you don't have a real job

-2

u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26

Lol only on reddit will you see someone arguing on a physics forum that being a physicist is not a real job. And I really couldn’t care less about your approval

4

u/Ok_Construction5119 May 01 '26

ur a gatekeeping nerd lol that's why ur getting downvotes

-1

u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26

Oh nooooooo 😭

8

u/clumsykiwi May 01 '26

If you are publishing papers and happy with your career as a physicist, why do you behave this way? Your post history paints a deeply insecure person, i cant see any reason an actual condensed matter physicist would be so nit-picky about titles as someone who produces valuable research would have much better things to do with their time. im sure youve gotten your name on enough papers to keep your ego afloat but the fact that you consistently try to bring down others in the same or similar fields shows enough to assume you dont make any contributions.

1

u/CMxFuZioNz Plasma physics May 01 '26

I agree he does sound like a dick, but isn't a scientist someone who does science? And isn't a physicist a science?

I don't see how someone who doesn't do research could really say they are a professional scientist?

2

u/clumsykiwi May 01 '26

I think specificity is important. Scientist, applied scientist, and research scientist are all vague descriptors of different recognized professional paths stemming from some area that falls under a science. Would you consider a science educator a scientist? It can come off as pedantic to say some descriptor doesnt apply to someone because they arent someone who does research. doing science can mean a lot of different things, doing physics not so much but its still dickish to try and draw lines about titles when someone actively uses physics to solve problems for work.

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u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 01 '26

Gottem!

1

u/profHalliday May 02 '26

I promise I have many times more publications than you do, and I disagree with your arrogant statement. A physicist is someone who practices physics — if you are getting paid to do physics, you are a physicist.

0

u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics May 02 '26

Right, and I am telling you my conception of what “doing physics” means. I never said it was a competition, but I’m glad you feel better than me 👍

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u/profHalliday 29d ago

“If you aren’t publishing papers, you aren’t a physicist, sorry to say”

No, you confidently declared that you know what a physicist is, and disqualified another practicing physicist per your definition. If you want to really an opinion, you can add “I think” or “in my view” or “my conception is,” none of which you relayed.

Act better.

0

u/tunaMaestro97 Condensed matter physics 29d ago

I really couldn’t care less about your outrage. Do I need to preface an obvious opinion with “this is my opinion btw”?

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u/profHalliday 28d ago

Yes, that is how communicating an opinion works, you do need to state that it is an opinion, otherwise you are relaying a fact.