If your child is interested in physics as a career, he or she might want to check out these case studies of actual people working in physics at Physics.org. As you will see, coursework in physics can lead to many different job opportunities.

For example, Catherine Heyman, who is an astrophysicist, uses the Hubble telescope in Hawaii.

Helen Gleeson works as a physics lecturer at Manchester University and does research on liquid crystals.

Chris Minto, a materials scientist, designs transducers to generate sound underwater for a small company. That “sounds” like a great job to me, except maybe the part about going down in a submarine.

Note:  The scientists listed studied in Great Britain and the terminology of coursework required reflects their school system.

If you want to learn more try,

Janice VanCleave’s Physics for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments in Motion, Heat, Light, Machines, and Sound (Science for Every Kid Series) by Janice VanCleave

Basher Science: Physics: Why Matter Matters by Dan Green and Simon Basher (Illustrator)

For adults:

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman , Ralph Leighton and Edward Hutchings (Editor)

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The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein (Biography of Physics) by George Gamow

Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking by William H. Cropper