By Bayla Rothschild, Staff Writer
I have had the same conversation numerous times since I declared my major as physics close to a year ago. The discussions begin in a variety of ways, but normally they lead to some question along the lines of “what do you plan to do with a physics degree?” My answer is always the same: “I don’t know.” That is often met with, “If you don’t know where you are going career-wise, then why not major in something much easier that requires less work?” I answer with, “Why not?”
The physics department at Stern College for Women is tiny. I am one of five juniors and seniors majoring in physics. The size presents both challenges and benefits, and I fully recognize both. But no matter what difficulties arise, I rarely question my decision. Even when I do question it, I try to figure out what I would major in instead, and I never arrive at a satisfactory answer. I consistently realize that not only do I find physics interesting but also important.
Even if one is pursuing a career that is completely unrelated to physics, there is immense importance in learning and understanding physics concepts.
Studying physics builds problem-solving skills. In every physics class that I have taken, we begin by learning a series of general concepts which we will later need to understand more complex ones. Eventually, we get to the point where we have learned enough that a problem that seems impossible is with careful analysis able to be solved by relying on everything we learned before. Through the process of continuously solving these impossible-seeming problems, I have become stronger at solving other types of problems as well. These problems often have no connection to physics and yet still use the skills that I have developed to logically think through a situation, understand the factors at play and then come up with a solution.
Sometimes, when working through a problem in class, we also find that it could actually be a real-world situation. A perfect example of this happened during my Classical Mechanics final exam last semester. The question at hand gave specific pieces of information about a satellite that is orbiting the Earth when an accident occurs that messes up the orbit. The class had to calculate various parameters of both the old and new orbits. These calculations aren’t purely hypothetical. In a real-world situation, understanding the new orbit ensures that the satellite will not cause any harm to anything else in space.
Think about any modern technology. It was developed using physics. The concepts that we learn about in physics classes have actually been used over time to create the technology we rely on today. To truly be able to understand how that technology works, what its capabilities are and both its risks and its benefits, one must understand the principles of the physics that created it. Overall, this allows us to be able to make better decisions for our lives in regard to technology in the modern world.
It isn’t just complex technology that is explained by physics. On a much more fundamental level, physics allows us to understand the natural world around us and how it works. This understanding unites everything in our universe, from the largest to smallest scales. The same gravity that holds the planets in their orbits around the sun also ensures that when we jump, we land back on the ground. Physics demonstrates how the same principles hold everything together.
At the same time, the more we study physics, the more we realize how little we truly know and how much more there is to learn about the incredible universe that we live in. Through this pursuit of knowledge, we strive to find answers to more and more questions of the universe, and the more we know, the more we can truly appreciate the complex world that God created for us.
Studying physics has its benefits for everyone, no matter what their future holds. While I still might not have a clear career path mapped out for myself, I am confident that there is a value to studying physics, from the skills that I am gaining to the understanding of the world that I am developing. By choosing this difficult major, I have gained a framework for logical reasoning and a deeper appreciation for the complexity of our universe that no other path could have provided. Ultimately, I major in physics because understanding the fundamental laws of nature is not just a job, but it is essential for understanding our place in the universe.
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