Expert: Daniel Mazur - 2/17/2009

Question
Hey, I was just wondering, if you want to do research as a theoretical physicist, would it be better to get a PhD, or a Masters degree? I was just wondering because I have heard that a PhD is worse than a Masters if you want to make money, but better if you want to do research.

Answer
Hello Pablo,

what you heard is very much correct. In order to do theoretical physics research for living you need a Ph.D. in it. I haven't so far heard of a person with "only" a Masters and still doing a research in theoretical physics. I worked with an experimental researcher with "only" Masters (because he never passed his Ph.D. Qualifier). The theoretical physics field is so competitive that it is very unlikely that you would be at the same time genius enough to make a significant contribution and yet reluctant to make a Ph.D.

We do not do science to make a fortune, we do it, because it provides a fair living standard and because we love it. You can be self-sufficient with your finances as soon as you get past a Bachelors', at least in the "west" countries you can. Then you can continue studying along with a part-time job (teaching and research assistantship) at your department. This should cover your tuition and living expenses. It is not much, it is just to reasonably survive. After Ph.D. the first jobs are usually "post-doc" positions, which means time-limited contracts. After that you may become a professor (university) or a staff scientist (government or private company lab). Unfortunately for you, virtually no private labs employ theoretical physicists to do theoretical physics. I met some who started doing research of stock market - it is there and it is well paid, but it is not physics.

The research jobs are paid moderately, except for those of Nobel Prize winners and similar extremely successful scientists. After a successful career of a scientist you may well consider yourself rich. Should you prefer higher potential salary faster, try looking into an engineering branch and get a Masters there. Their job market is incomparably larger, salaries quite a bit higher. Remember, engineers produce something more tangible than scientists, so they have more to offer to the industry. That's why they get paid better even with spending less time at a university. Studying physics means preparing yourself for scientific research and research in most cases means giving up some potential wealth to doing what we love for a job - if research is our favourite job.

I hope this helps you a bit.
Cheers,
Daniel