My 16 year old wants to do Physics
Not sure what the real world opportunities in Australia, Post-Graduation are for him in that field though?
As a side bonus, pursuing that goal has him working hard at his maths and science this year
Pure physics? Or is he interested in applied stuff too?
Lots of other disciplines rely heavily on Physics. I did Computer Systems Engineering at uni and we did up to 2nd year uni physics (including studying relativity with Professor Paul Davies!).
Think of all the stuff you learn about in physics and their application in the real world ... for example:
- optics (glasses, camera lenses, telescopes, mirrors, fibre optics, eye surgery, lasers, etc)
- thermodynamics (refrigeration, heating, materials engineering, chemical reactions, biomedical engineering)
- mechanics (mechanical, civil engineering, biomechanical engineering, etc)
- electro magnetism, relativity, lots of other area of physics too.
Also there are the blended fields which rely on physics and other areas of expertise:
- astrophysics
- biophysics
- chemical physics
- econophysics (statistical finance!)
- geophysics
- medical physics
- physical chemistry
There aren't many "physicists" around, but there are a lot of occupations which rely on physics every day!