Careers in Physics and Astronomy

What is Physics?

Your Gateway to Multiple Career Options

Do you know that Physics & Astronomy graduates can find employment in a wide range of areas including Law,Finance and Journalism?  The demand for physicists in the job market now is high. It is difficult to find any career in which physicists are not represented.

Academic Applied Societal
Astronomy Actuarial Science Education
Biophysics Computer Science Finance
Chemistry Engineering Journalism
Geophysics Industrial Research & Development Management
Mathematics Materials Science Marketing
Particle Physics Medical Physics Medicine
Physics Meteorology Military
  Nuclear Physics Music
  Oceanography Patent Law
  Optics and Photonics Photography
  Radiology  
  Space Physics  

Start your search at the Canadian Association of Physicists
Detailed Statistics on the employment of Physicists in the US

Links to Career Information and Opportunities
AAPT American Association of Physics Teachers: career options in the USA.
Academic Position Network  Files of faculty, administrative, and professional staff positions, graduate assistantships and fellowships, and post-doctoral opportunities available at institutions of higher education around the world.  All disciplines
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Offers educational resources, including Careers for Physicists.
Alumni Survey What Western Physics and Astronomy graduates are doing.
American Association for the Advancement of Science An extensive aray of career resources for scientists, including forums, a fledgling postdoc netwwork aand career advice articles.
American Association of Physicists in Medicine Lists acredited medical physics programs.  AAPM offers a career brochure and monthly job listings (for members only).
American Astronomical Society Education Office An extensive list of career resources, such as job listings, registers and statistics.
American Chemical Society Extensive career services, including chemical physics.
American Geophysical Union Job listing service (for members only) and has published books by Peter Fiske on careers.
American Institute of Physics The American Institute for Physics provides a placement service for physics graduates (B.S-Ph.D.). Resume' listings and searches, career opportunities in physics, and other useful information to assist physics educated individuals in their search for a job.
American Physical Society Links to APS career and educational outreach programs.
American Vacuum Society AVS maintains a job-listing service.
Vacuum Primer A nice reference for Vacuum Technology.
Astronomy Careers in Canada Canadian Astronomy Careers through The Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
Astronomy Web Resources at Western Find Observatories, Universities, Institutes, Educational Programs, Career Listings, Electronic Journals and more...
Australian Institute of Physics A set of job related links world-wide.
BIOTEC Canada BIOTEC Canada is the national organization for Biotechnology. This website lists many Canadian companies, universities and government research centres, and their job openings. Students who are interested in Medical Physics may find this website useful.
Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) Astronomy Job links in Canada
Canadian Association Of Physicists Career options in Canada.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Industry Canada CIPO is responsible for granting and registering intellectual property rights in Canada. Physicists are recruited as Patent Examiners.
Canadian Institute for Photonics Innovations CIPI is a nationwide network for Photonics research in Canada.. This website lists many Canadian companies, universities and government research centres and their job openings.
Canadian Organization of Medical Physics (COMP) Description of the role of Medical Physicists, and list of universities
and institutes offering medical physics graduate degrees and residency programs.
The Career Directory A great reference for Physics and Astronomy jobs in Canada. A reference copy is available at the Student Development Centre. Also available at www.mediacorp2.com or Chapters Bookstore.
Career Services Student Development Centre, UWO.  A host of facilities and services are available. Click on Career Services and then Job Search Strategies for advice on reme and interview preparation. Select Employment Opportunities for job listings
Commission on Professionals in Science and technology Useful employment, career, and other statistical data across the sciences and engineering.
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Careers in engineering, a consultants list and job listings
Jobs in Higher Education Academic360.com is a meta-collection of Internet resources that have been gathered for the academic job hunter. It includes links to faculty, staff, and administrative announcements and is not restricted to teaching positions.
McMaster Univeristy Science Career Services, Physics and Astronomy. A starting point for numerous career related sites.
Materials Science at UWO Career options with links to other sources.
Medical Physics Medical Physics jobs in Canada.
National Academy of Sciences/ National Research Council (USA) Holds workshops and produces publications on science education and careers.
National Research Council The NRC has a careers link to jobs at the NRC itself
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, USA Frequently asked questions about being an Astronomer. Good information.
OCITS Ontario Consortium for Image-Guided Therapy and Surgery
Optical Society of America Listings of jobs and consultants.
PhysicsWeb The Institute of Physics is based in the United Kingdom, and lists jobs around the world.
TIPTOP The Internet Pilot to Physics. Lists jobs available and wanted. International. A great UK site.
University of North Carolina Career Services.  A starting point for numerous career related links
Wetfeet This site has advice for job seakers on resume and interview preparation, and allows you to do company research and job searches among other things.
Workopolis This site is maintained by the Globe and Mail and has thousands of job listings.

 

If you find another useful link for this Careers Page, please email it to Prof. Hutter. Thank you.

Alumni Survey

We contacted our alumni, and asked them to return a short survey.  One question asked about their careers after they finished their degree, and here are the responses.  There are three tables:  all responses;  those who graduated before 1980; those who graduated in 1980 or later. 

| All responses | 1979 or before | 1980 or later |

Positions of Physics & Astronomy Alumni - all
Position Highest Physics/Astronomy degree Totals
B.Sc. M.Sc. Ph.D.
University 6 9 43 58
Observatories 0 2 2 4
Government Lab./ Institute/Research Centre 7 7 9 23
Industry 16 5 6 27
Computing 6 0 1 7
Engineering 6 2 0 8
Medicine 9 3 0 12
Teaching 36 12 3 51
Retail, etc. 18 0 0 18
Government 3 1 1 5
Insurance/ Investment/ Business 8 0 0 8
Broadcasting 2 0 0 2
Musician 1 0 0 1
Aviation 1 1 0 2
Law 1 0 0 1
Totals 120 42 65 227

Positions of Physics & Astronomy Alumni
who received their first degree before 1980
Position Program Highest Physics/Astronomy degree
Astronomy Physics B.Sc. M.Sc. Ph.D.
University 7 38 4 7 34
Observatories 0 1 0 1 0
Government Lab./ Institute/Research Centre 2 14 6 4 6
Industry 0 16 7 4 5
Computing 1 4 4 0 1
Engineering 0 5 4 1 0
Medicine 0 9 6 3 0
Teaching 3 45 33 12 3
Retail, etc. 1 11 12 0 0
Government 1 4 3 1 1
Insurance/ Investment/ Business 0 7 7 0 0
Broadcasting 0 1 1 0 0
Musician 0 1 1 0 0
Aviation 1 1 1 1 0
Law 0 1 1 0 0
Totals 16 158 90 34 50

 


Positions of Physics & Astronomy Alumni
who received their first degree in 1980 or later
Position Program Highest Physics/Astronomy degree
Astronomy Physics B.Sc. M.Sc. Ph.D.
University 4 9 2 2 9
Observatories 3 0 0 1 2
Government Lab./ Institute/Research Centre 4 3 1 3 3
Industry 0 11 9 1 1
Computing 1 1 2 0 0
Engineering 1 2 2 1 0
Medicine 0 3 3 0 0
Teaching 0 3 3 0 0
Retail, etc. 0 6 6 0 0
Insurance/ Investment/ Business 0 1 1 0 0
Broadcasting 0 1 1 0 0
Totals 13 40 30 8 15