[PDF] What Do Physicists Do? - Eastern Illinois University

39462_7EIU_Physics_Brochure.pdf Re sear c hgradeX-Rayfacilitiesareavailable. WhatDoPhysicistsDo?"Whenonehearsofthesuccessofthelatest satel l iteorofanewadvanceincommunica- tions,orofpeoplegainingabetterunder- standingofthenatureoftheatom,itisal- mostcertainthatthescientistsinthefore- frontofthatadvanceofknowledgearephysi- c ists.Physicistsarecuriouspeopletryingto learnnature"ssecrets.

Ofcourse,asonelearnsmore,itbecomes

necessarytoconcentrateone"seffortsincer- t a i nareas.Theoreticalphysicistsusemathe- matica ltoolstointerpret-theresultsofex- periment s ,andtheyalsosuggestnewtheories ofnature"sbehavior.Experimentalphysicists deviselaboratorymeasurementsthatcantest thetheoriesthathavebeenproposedandob- ta i n£actsthatcanbeusedasabasisformore advancedtheories.

Anotherclassificationofphysicistsisby

theirareaofspecialization,i.e.,asastro,solid- state,nuclear,high-energy,bioorlow-temper- ature,etc.,physicists.And,ofcourse,wecould g r o u pphysicistsasbeinginteachingorinre- search(orboth),inindustry(therocketpeo- pleemploymanyphysicists),oringovern- mentwork(theNationalAeronauticsand

SpaceAdministration,theNationalBureau

ofStandardsorperhapstheAtomicEnergy

Commission

) .Manyemployersarebeginning torealizethatpeoplewiththebroadbasic backgro u ndofthephysicistcanunderstand b e tt e rthanspecialiststhecomplexitiesof moderntechnology.Physicistsarenowdoing muchofthe,workformerlydonebyelec- t r ical,aeronautical,mechanical,etc.,engi- n eers . Ma n yphysicistsareemployedasteachers. T h eyteachinhighschools,colleges,anduni- vers i ties .Manylargeindustrieshave"onthe j ob"trainingprogramsinwhicheducationin p h ys i csplaysanimportantpart. T hebasicunderstandingofNaturegained b yphysicistsandotherscientistswillsurely providetheinsightnecessarytosolvetheprob- l emsofourenvironment.Pollution,wastedis- p osalanddisturbedecologyrequiremoresci- e nti ficknowledge,notless,tobeeffectively h andled .

Thereisacontinuingneedformorephysi-

c i stsespeciallyatthebachelor"sdegreelevel. W h ileatthepresenttimethereislessdemand forPh.D.physiciststhanpreviously,thelong- t ermneedisarealone.

What1sDuePhysicists?

Th esalariespaidnaturallyvarygreatly,be- ingdependentuponthebackgroundandabil- it yoftheperson,andonthejob.Broadly spe a king,thebeginningpersonwithaBach- L et "smeasureatomicenergylevels.elor"sdegreewillstartatapproximately$800 to$900permonthwhilephysicistswiththe Ph.D .areontheaveragethehighestpaid s c i e ntist sinthecountry.Usuallybeginning s a larie spermonthinindustrywillbethe sa measthoseinteaching;however,thepo- te nti a lindustrialwageusuallyisgreater. Oft e nscientistsareinapositiontoadvance intoexecutivepositionsinmajorcompanies a tquitehighsalaries. WhyCometoEastern?Mostofthestudentsconsideringphysicsas acareerarequitecapablepeoplewhoarein- t e re s tedinwhynaturebehavesasitdoes.To th e m ,"WhycometoEastern?"isareasonable qu e stion.The":programinphysics,andinre- l a te dmathematics,atEasternIllinoisUniver- s it yisstrong.~widerangeofcourses,taught b yprofessorsofability,experience,andpos- sessi n gPh.D."sinphysics,isavailable.Class s iz eiskepttoaminimuminorderthatstu- den t-p r of e sso rcontactsareeasilymadeandto p er mi tampleopportunityforquestionsand c l as sdiscussion.YetEastern,witha1970en- rollmentofapproximately8400,isnotasmall sc ho o l .Therearemanystudentswithsimilar int e r es t sandabilities. E astern " sphysicsgraduatesarereadilyac- ce ptedintothecommunitiesofscholarsof thewell-knowngraduateschools,intothe ranksofindustry,andintotheteachingpro- fession .Inadditiontotakingastrongscience program ,opportunitiesforstudyintheareas ofliterature,philosophy,language,music, a ndarthelpmakethephysicsgraduatea bro a dly -e du ca t e dperson.

Beforechoosinganycollegeoruniversity,

theablestudentshouldcarefullyinvestigate t h esizeofitsclasses,theeducationofitspro- f e sso r s,thelaboratoryequipmentavailable, t h estandardofqualityofeachcourse,and w h et herhisclasseswillbetaughthygraduate s tudent sorbyprofessors.

Eastern"sPhysicsProgram

Thephysicsdepartmentstaffis:

W.A.Butler,HeadoftheDepartment,

Ph.D. ,atomicphysics,UniversityofIlli- noi s ,1952. M .L.Breig,Ph.D.,solidstatephysics,

UniversityofOklahoma,1963.

Willi a mCloud,Ph.D.,atomicphysics, U niv e rsityofWisconsin,1955. A .D.Davis,Ph.D.,theoreticalphysics,

Univer

s ityofCalifornia,LosAngeles, 1 9 70.

S.L.Eisenhour,Ph.D.,solidstatephysics,

U niversit yofIllinois,1962. G .Q.Lefler,Ph.D.,ProfessorEmeritus, Indi a n aUniversity,1936. 4 :P.S.Smith,Ph.D.,theoreticalphysics, C o r ne llUniversity,1951.

R.C.Waddell,Ph.D.,nuclearphysics,

I owaStateUniversity,1955. Erw i nA.Whalin,Jr.,Ph.D.,nuclearphysics, Un i vers it yofIllinois,1954. Pa ulF.Ruddell,M.S., P u rdueUniversity,1966.

MauriceD.Shepherd,M.S.,

I n d i a n aUniversity,1967.

H.A.Taitt,M.S.(onleave1970-71),

U ni vers i tyofDelaware,1959. L .R.Gibson,M.S., Ohi oUniversity,1970. C h ar l e sE.Miller,Jr.,B.S.Ed.,FacultyAs- s i s t a nt ,

EasternIllinoisUniversity,1963.

T h ephysicsdepartmentofferstheunder- g r a du a t ephysicsmajorachoiceofthedegrees B . A .,B.S.,andB.S.inEd.,whileatthegradu- a t eleveltheM.S.andM.S.inEd.,areavaila- bl e . C ou rsesofferedattheundergraduatelevel in c lud egeneralphysics,optics,classicalme- c h a n ics,electronics,electricityandmagnet- is m ,atomic,quantummechanics,nuclear, so l idstate,thermodynamics,experimental p h ys i cslaboratory,andindependentstudy. T h etextbooksusedarewrittenbyauthori- ti esintheirrespectivefieldsandarethesame asthoseadoptedbymanyleadinguniversities ofthenation.

Inadditiontoworkinthisdepartment,

eac hphysicsmajorisexpectedtotakeap- p roxima t e l ythreeyears"workinmathematics. Co ur sesavailableincludecomputerprogram- min g,calculus,differentialequations,ad- vanc e dcalculus,andmatrixalgebra.Atthe high e rlevelsthedistinctionbetweenworkin t heo r e ti ca lphysicsandappliedmathematics b ec om e sslight.

Thedepartmentsponsorsalocalstudent

sectionoftheA.J.P.andachapterofthena- tionalphysicshonorsociety,~II~. A d eq u at eequipmentisavailableforexper- i me nt a lworkinmanyareasofmodernand c l assica lphysics.Muchequipmentisbuiltup 5 ~ - ~ - ----- -- ----------- - ~----------- ----- ----- - M a k i n gadirectmeas- u rementofthespeedof li gh t . Th ecalculationof mi c r o w av efrequenciesis p h u n. R e se a rchinbiophysics. a ndmaintainedthroughtheservicesofafull- tim e"shopman.Whilethespaceavailableto ph ys i cswasdoubledin1965,planningisnow und er w ayforanothermajorexpansionofthe ph ys i csfacilities.Thisincreasewillgreatly impro veopportunitiesforresearchinseveral a r easofmodernphysics.

WhereAreEastern"s

GraduatesEmployed?Inthelastfewyearsover100peoplehave gr a d u a t e dwithamajorinphysicsfromthis d e p a rtm e n t.Manyareteaching,othersare e mplo ye dinindustryandgovernmentre- se ar c hwhileothersareingraduateschools a cros sthenation.

AtthepresenttimeEasternphysicsgradu-

a tesareworkingonorhaverecentlyobtained

6thePh.D.fromsuchschoolsastheUniversity

ofIllinois,UniversityofAlabama,Univer- sit yofKentucky,OhioUniversity,University ofSouthernCalifornia,IowaStateUniversity, M ichig a nStateUniversity,UniversityofWis- consin . I nindustry,graduatesofthelastfewyears in c ludeemployeesofHughesAircraft,"West- in g h o u s e ,WrightAirDevelopmentCenter, Litt o nIndustries,McDonnellAircraft,Inter- n a ti o n a lTelephoneandTelegraph,Mallory E l ec tri cCompany,Convair,GeneralElectric Co mp a n y,LivermoreResearchLaboratory, " W es t e rnElectric,andmanyothers. Eas ter nphysicsgraduatesarenow,orhave r e ce ntl ybeen,facultymembersorassistants a tseveralmajoruniversitiesincludingthe U niversityofSouthernCalifornia,University o fIllinois,UniversityofMissouriatRolla, V irgin i aPolytechnicInstitute,andSouthDa- k o t aSchoolofMines.Juniorcollegephysics in s tructor salsocangettheirtrainingatEast- er n - forexampletheinstructorsofLake L a nd,Olney,andSaukValleyJuniorColleges a r eEasterngraduates.ManyotherEastern g r a du a testeachphysicsinthehighschoolsof I l linoi sandthenation.Anareasamplein- 7 dudesthephysicsteachersofhighschoolsin

Champaign,Danville,Mattoon,Decatur,and

Shelby

v i l le . F o rcompleteinjormation,COiltact: Dr .W.A.Butler,Head

PhysicsDepartment

Ea s ternIllinoisUniversity C harleston ,Illinois61920 or

IfyoudesireaUniversitycatalogand

admissionmaterial,writeto:

DirectorofAdmissions

EasternIllinoisUniversity

C h arleston,Illinois61920

Ofcourse,youarewelcometovisitEastern

anditsphysicsdepartmentatanytime.You m aysitinonafewclasses,meetstaffmem- bers,andtalktostudents.

CometoEasternIllinoisUniversityto

s t u dyphysics. Mod er nelectronicequipmentfortheclassroom dem o ns t ra t ion .