Physics Curricula and Industrial R & D or the Neglected 42%

Abstract

Data in the 1962 National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel reveal that 42% of all physicists in the United States are employed outside the academic community and do not have Ph.D.'s. When the characteristics and needs of industrial research laboratories are examined against a backdrop of typical physics curricula, serious deviations between the two are discernible. When it is further realized that 46% of all U. S. physicists are working in the classical fields of electronics, electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, fluids, and mechanics, further doubts about course emphasis arise. It is proposed that an academic option be introduced which emphasizes classical physics at an advanced level, while providing a general grasp of the quantum and statistical base. A continuous and unified laboratory program is also recommended. Modifications would extend through the master's degree. The result could be a curriculum capable of efficiently producing the applied physicists which industry clearly needs.