Physicist salary for 2016 according to Payscale is between $50,199 – $142,208, and an hourly range of $19.49 – $76.03. Most physicist are passionate about their work and end up working overtime, which may increase their earnings.
Physicist are scientist who study how the various forms of matter and energy interact, they design and do various experiments using advanced technology and tools. They are study cause and effect, origin and nature of time as it relates.
The physicist who are low earners are usually fresh graduates starting their career, the seniors earn more while the professionals are the top earners. The job description of a physicist may vary with their specialization and a couple of school offer courses to train as physicist.
Physicist Salary
Physicist are hardworking and they also earn a good salary, the earn between $50,199 – $142,208, and an hourly range of $19.49 – $76.03. They work slightly over 40 hours every week, and there are close to 9,000 physicist in the United States.
Most physicist hold a doctorate making them highly educated, they work in hospitals, research laboratories, schools, universities and in some cases consult as a private practice professional. The salary however depends on their location, age, experience, employer, skills and more.
Aside from their salaries, a physicist earn money from speaking, book writing, seminars and training’s conducted.
Physicist Job Description
The physicist job description may sound complex but cozy, they are well paid and they work in a very comfortable environment. They may have to work isolated if they are on the field,
- Physicist researches subjects such as mechanics, heat, light, sound, electricity, pneumatics, magnetism, and radiation.
- They develops laws and theories of physics for their application to specific industries and fields.
- Describes and illustrates observations and conclusions in mathematical terms.
- Devises ways for physical testing of materials.
- Conducts instrumental analyses to find physical properties of materials.
- Maintain and use equipment and lab space.
- Communicate results in writing and in presentations to researchers, students, funders, the public, and other audiences.
- Design, conduct and test the results of experiments, methodologies, and quality control tests.
- Provide technical support and calculations to non-scientists, students, and other groups.
Other skills required:
- Maths skills
- Analytics skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Concentration
- Self motivation
- Self Discipline
- Communication skills
- Curiosity
- Physicist Job Schools and Training
To became a physicist you will have to earn a bachelor’s degree, then go ahead for your master degree and then a doctorate. The doctorate may take up to 6 years to complete while a master degree is between 18 months to 2 years. May be shorter this is dependent on the institution applied to, to find schools offering physicist course use the school finder box by the side or below.
To apply you need a good score or GPA to get admitted into the program, and extensive knowledge of the quantum field theory, gauge theory, and the Higgs mechanism will be required for this career. Plus skills that will sustain through your training period and career.
Physicists should have must have very strong aptitude for mathematics, trigonometry, and calculus. Most physicist study to a doctorate level and go ahead with post doctoral research programs though it is not compulsory. After educational training the physicist salary is one of the best in sciences.