The truth about Einstein’s major from a physicist
No, it’s not hard. That’s the answer. A physics major is not hard, I mean it sure is harder than receiving most other degrees, but it’s not super hard and I am no super brain, believe me! Oh, if you are new here, you might not know me. My name is Yildiz and I study physics and philosophy at Christian-Albrecht’s university, which is the same university where the famous physicist Max Planck studied and later was habilitated. I like to brag about this, forgive me.
I also currently work as a Research Assistant in the section for theoretical physics in Kiel. I must seem quite arrogant to you right now if I say that physics is not that hard. Einstein, Feynman, and Stephen Hawking. All these super brains were physicists, and they did things not many people would be able to do. And yes, to study physics means you have to study damn hard. You won’t just intuitively understand things and most of the time, even counterintuitively, you won’t understand things that much. There are quite many things no one in physics understands, not even the smartest people on earth because they are riddles to us. I mean, yes, we all understand that an apple falls down the tree to the ground because of gravity and we understand that velocity is measured in kilometers per hour. But these are problems of classical physics. If you thought physics was making perfect sense and is all about logic, then this means you have no clue about physics. Quantum physics is the science of the smallest units in our cosmos. Quantum physics only happens in the world of atoms, electrons, Quarks…The infamous theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, who is considered one of the smartest people that lived in the 20th century and a genius in mathematics, said once: ‘’ I think I can safely say that no one understands quantum mechanics’’.
Well, so far it seems I was just trying to refute the point I was making at the beginning because even the most intelligent people don’t understand physics in its so glorious entirety. But I want to tell you something. No, in fact, Richard Feynman wants to tell you another thing about him and physics:
‘“I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people. It happens they get interested in this thing and they learn all this stuff, but they’re just people’’ (Richard Feynman).
There are no miracle people. This is what I and Feynman want to tell you, the reader, the student who can’t decide if he/she should study physics or not, the seeker of truth, and the always curious person. Physics is not a major made for geniuses. Did you know that Feynman ‘’only’’ had an IQ of 125? Now, this is smart, but it does not make him a genius, it makes him still ordinary. Normally, people with an IQ of about 130 and higher are considered gifted. See, IQ and Intelligence is hard topics anyways and I very gladly will write a separate article about Intelligence soon but for now, remember this: A physicist is someone willing to work hard, and who is humble about his/her understanding of the universe and who is passionate about ideas, not money, not fame, not people at least not primarily.
A person that watches the stars at night and suddenly asks him-/herself ‘’why is the night dark?’’, is a physicist. A person who watches the stars at night and thinks about a poem for his beloved one is a poet and a person that doesn’t watch the stars at night at all is a fool.
So no, physics is not hard if your motivation is right. For, a physicist reading Goethe is much harder than reading a calculus book. A major in physics is doable also with average intelligence and average math skills.
So what are your thoughts on physics? Would you like to hear more about this topic?
Thank you for reading this article.
