The vast majority of people who study
physics--even those taking the subject very seriously and devoting a
lot of time and energy to mastering the basic ideas--ever do any sort
of physics, per se. It's exactly like mathematics. A lot of
people study mathematics and master some of the most important
principles, but never see themselves as a mathematician. Yet it
might become an integral part of work that isn't directly classified
as physics or mathematics.
Personally, I
found that mathematics made a lot more sense when I was able to
couple it with a serious study of basic physics. The models and
equations of physics gave meaning to otherwise abstract mathematical principles. We can crank out a bazillion
fancy and colorful images on the latest-and-greatest graphing
calculators; but it all takes on more meaning when the math is tied
to a dynamic mental image of charged particles rushing headlong through force
fields.
So you can use your study of physics to give meaning to your work
in mathematics. That is one heck of a combination of skills. Then
you will be ready to do some original engineering or product
development.
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for physics. In fact, there was a
time--when I was about 8 or 10 years old--that I thought it would be cool to be
a theoretical physicist. I think I got the idea from 1940s-style action movies about WWII German physicists who either turned into mad scientists or
were the
good guys who fled to England or the USA. In any event, I was
attracted to the way they pronounced "theoretical"--sort of like "tsee-eh-REH-tee-kl."
Of course you had to gutteralize the "r." Besides the accent, there was the engaging
personality of Albert Einstein who held rock start
status in the late 1940s. I was an Einstein groupie and theoretical-physicist
wannabe. From:
Radical Lifelong Learning: Harnessing the Energy
Bungling Wannabe or
Responsible Thinker:
Here's How You Know
"When you work in cosmology--the study of the cosmos at large--one of the
facts of life becomes the weekly letter, e-mail, or fax from someone who wants
to describe to you his own theory of the universe (yes, they are invariably
men). The biggest mistake you can make is to politely answer that you would like
to learn more. This immediately results in an endless barrage of messages. So
how can you prevent the assault? A particular tactic that I found to be quite
effective (short of the impolite act of not answering at all) is to point out
the true fact that as long as the theory is not precisely formulated in the
language of mathematics, it is impossible to assess its relevance. This response
stops most amateur cosmologists in their tracks. The reality is that without
mathematics, modern-day cosmologists would not have progressed even one step in
attempting to understand the laws of nature. Mathematics provides the solid
scaffolding that holds together any theory of the universe."