how many phd physicists are in the world?
958407
There about 15000 working physicist is the US and probably more than double that in the world. In addition there are many working in teaching positions. They have many professional societies to communicate with each other. You might check out American Physical Society (APS) to start with.
566127
There are many branches of physics.  It depends on exactly what branch you are interested in.  For a very comprehensive guide, check out Wikipedia:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics#Major_fields_of_physics\n\nI am personally interested in theoretical astrophysics and particle physics.  These two are extremely hot right now in the physics world, with enourmous academic resources being devoted to the study of String Theory.  This is because String Theory purports to unify two branches of physics that are widely accepted as true, and yet conflict with each other.  These conflicting branches of physics are:\n\n1.  Quantum Physics\nThis is the study of the very small (molecules / atoms / quarks etc.), and it has been experimentally verified and widely accepted.  But it only accurately describes things on very small scales.\n\n2.  General Relativity\nThis is the study of the very large (planets, stars, galaxies), and it too has been repeatedly verified.  But it only describes things on non-microscopic scales.\n\nWhy should nature be divided between two totally different theories of matter?  This seems to indicate a problem, that our knowledge of the world is still far from complete.  A single "unified" theory should be found which unites the two, and this Unified Field Theory has been the "holy grail" of physicists ever since Einstein began the search years ago.  One leading theory is widely believed to meet this challenge:  String Theory.  It unifies the theories of the very large and the very small, mathematically anyway.  Its only weakness is that it lacks direct experimental confirmation.  But there are indirect observations, such as the distribution of stars throughout space being an interpretation of quantum processes (the theory being that all matter everywhere was once compacted into a microscopic region and then expanded during the Big Bang, retaining in some way at least some of the properties it had when it was extremely small).\n\nThe most influential physicists can be found here:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index\n\n..."influential" meaning that their research is extensively cited in academic papers and journals.\n\nIf you want to get a head start, you should start reading books targeted for common people (as opposed to mathematical professionals).  There are many, many books like this.  But I would point you to the following ones to get you started:\n\n1.  The Fabric of the Cosmos (by Brian Greene)\n2.  The Elegant Universe (by Brian Greene)\n3.  A Brief History of Time (by Stephen Hawking)\n4.  Six Easy Pieces (by Richard Feynman)\n5.  Parallel Worlds (by Michio Kaku)\n\nI recommend that you start with #1 above, if theoretical particle and astro physics are your thing.  Greene has a keen ability to explain complex subjects to non-physics majors in a way that most people can understand.\n\nA search on Amazon.com for any of the above titles will allow you to buy the book (new or used); also, you will likely find Hawking's and Feynman's books in any library, where you can read it for free.\n\nOne thing to remember is that the above books do not need to be read or understood in their entirety.  If you feel like you do not understand something, skip past it until you get to something you do understand.  There is a wealth of fascinating information that will blow your mind if you just invest the time, so don't get intimidated from reading if you run into a road block.\n\nGood luck!  And don't give up until your mind is dizzy with amazement about the nature of the universe around you -- it must have that effect, or you haven't gotten it yet.
1106566
[edit]\nPhysics\nMain Article: Nobel Prize in Physics \n2005 Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch\n\n2004 David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek\n\n2003 Alexei A. Abrikosov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Anthony J. Leggett\n\n2002 Raymond Davis Jr., Masatoshi Koshiba, Riccardo Giacconi\n\n2001 Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman\n\n2000 Zhores I. Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack S. Kilby\n\n1999 Gerardus 't Hooft, Martinus J.G. Veltman\n\n1998 Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel C. Tsui\n\n1997 Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips\n\n1996 David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff, Robert C. Richardson\n\n1995 Martin L. Perl, Frederick Reines\n\n1994 Bertram N. Brockhouse, Clifford G. Shull\n\n1993 Russell A. Hulse, Joseph H. Taylor Jr.\n\n1992 Georges Charpak\n\n1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes\n\n1990 Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall, Richard E. Taylor\n\n1989 Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul\n\n1988 Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger\n\n1987 J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alex Müller\n\n1986 Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer\n\n1985 Klaus von Klitzing\n\n1984 Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer\n\n1983 Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, William A. Fowler\n\n1982 Kenneth G. Wilson\n\n1981 Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur L. Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn\n\n1980 James Cronin, Val Fitch\n\n1979 Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg\n\n1978 Pyotr Kapitsa, Arno Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson\n\n1977 Philip W. Anderson, Sir Nevill F. Mott, John H. van Vleck\n\n1976 Burton Richter, Samuel C.C. Ting\n\n1975 Aage N. Bohr, Ben R. Mottelson, James Rainwater\n\n1974 Martin Ryle, Antony Hewish\n\n1973 Leo Esaki, Ivar Giaever, Brian D. Josephson\n\n1972 John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, Robert Schrieffer\n\n1971 Dennis Gabor\n\n1970 Hannes Alfvén, Louis Néel\n\n1969 Murray Gell-Mann\n\n1968 Luis Alvarez\n\n1967 Hans Bethe\n\n1966 Alfred Kastler\n\n1965 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard P. Feynman\n\n1964 Charles H. Townes, Nicolay G. Basov, Aleksandr M. Prokhorov\n\n1963 Eugene Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen\n\n1962 Lev Landau\n\n1961 Robert Hofstadter, Rudolf Mössbauer\n\n1960 Donald A. Glaser\n\n1959 Emilio Segrè, Owen Chamberlain\n\n1958 Pavel A. Cherenkov, Il´ja M. Frank, Igor Y. Tamm\n\n1957 Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee\n\n1956 William B. Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain\n\n1955 Willis E. Lamb, Polykarp Kusch\n\n1954 Max Born, Walther Bothe\n\n1953 Frits Zernike\n\n1952 Felix Bloch, E. M. Purcell\n\n1951 John Cockcroft, Ernest T.S. Walton\n\n1950 Cecil Powell\n\n1949 Hideki Yukawa\n\n1948 Patrick M.S. Blackett\n\n1947 Edward V. Appleton\n\n1946 Percy W. Bridgman\n\n1945 Wolfgang Pauli\n\n1944 Isidor Isaac Rabi\n\n1943 Otto Stern\n\n1942 No prize awarded. 1/3 of the prize money for this year was allocated to the Main Fund, 2/3 to the Special Fund of the physics section.\n\n1941 No prize awarded. 1/3 of the prize money for this year was allocated to the Main Fund, 2/3 to the Special Fund of the physics section.\n\n1940 No prize awarded. 1/3 of the prize money for this year was allocated to the Main Fund, 2/3 to the Special Fund of the physics section.\n\n1939 Ernest Lawrence\n\n1938 Enrico Fermi\n\n1937 Clinton Davisson, George Paget Thomson\n\n1936 Victor F. Hess, Carl D. Anderson\n\n1935 James Chadwick\n\n1934 No prize awarded. 1/3 of the prize money for this year was allocated to the Main Fund, 2/3 to the Special Fund of the physics section.\n\n1933 Erwin Schrödinger, Paul A.M. Dirac\n\n1932 Werner Heisenberg\n\n1931 No prize awarded. The prize money for this year was allocated to the Special Fund of the physics section.\n\n1930 Venkata Raman\n\n1929 Louis de Broglie\n\n1928 Owen Willans Richardson\n\n1927 Arthur H. Compton, C.T.R. Wilson\n\n1926 Jean Baptiste Perrin\n\n1925 James Franck, Gustav Hertz\n\n1924 Manne Siegbahn\n\n1923 Robert A. Millikan\n\n1922 Niels Bohr\n\n1921 Albert Einstein\n\n1920 Charles Edouard Gui
942675
I dont know if u want only the name of the prize winners or the names and the topics they won it for so i only wrote u the names. Tell me if u want more\n\n1901 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (Prussia, afterwards Germany) \n\n1902 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (The Netherlands) and Pieter Zeeman (The Netherlands \n\n1903 Antoine Henri Becquerel (France)\n         Pierre (France) and Marie Curie (Poland/France\n\n1904 John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (UK) \n\n1905 Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (Germany) \n\n1906 Sir Joseph John Thomson (UK )\n\n1907 Albert Abraham Michelson (Poland/US) \n\n1908 Gabriel Lippmann (Luxembourg) \n\n1909 Guglielmo Marconi (Italy) and Karl Ferdinand Braun (Germany) \n\n1910 Johannes Diderik van der Waals (The Netherlands) \n\n1911 Wilhelm Wien (Germany) \n\n1912 Nils Gustaf Dalén (Sweden) \n\n1913 Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes (The Netherlands \n\n1914 Max von Laue (Germany) \n\n1915 Sir William Henry Bragg (England, UK) and William Lawrence Bragg (South Australia, afterwards Australia) \n\n1916  (The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.) \n\n1917 Charles Glover Barkla (England, UK) \n\n1918 Max Planck (Germany) \n\n1919 Johannes Stark (Germany) \n\n1920 Charles Edouard Guillaume (Switzerland/France)
47058
I would assume, the people in this question:\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjjR0dbsGp5VqsB5P3SpF1Xsy6IX?qid=1006010203102\n\nAnd, it seems, up to 9.5 million other people:
250815
In the absence of hard data, you can make a rough estimate. \nAccording to the UK Grad program around 15,000 PhD students graduated in 2003. http://www.grad.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Resources/What_Do_PhDs_Do_/UK_PhD_degrees_in_context/p!ecdXXji\n\nAssuming this number is constant, which it wont be, let's assume that there are very few PhD graduates over 75.\n\nSo if 15,000 students graduate with PhDs every year, and have done for the last 50 years, then there are 750,000 PhD graduates in the UK.\n\nGiven the population is around 60 million, this means 1.25% of people in the UK have PhDs from British Universities. Given that there won't have been 15,000 PhD students in 1956, this is probably an overestimate.\n\nAlso this estimate doesn't include those students who then go abroad. Around 10% of recent PhD graduates go abroad, according to this survey: http://www.grad.ac.uk/downloads/documents/WDPD/WDPD%20regional.pdf#search='number%20of%20PHD%20graduates%20UK'\n\n\nIt also doesn't include those PhD students who come to the UK with PhDs - as a strong economy I'd expect a net influx of PhD students. Perhaps the National Statistics Office can answer that better: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nscl.asp?ID=6164
315213
Whats the phd in? depending on your answer the fields might be limited or competetive but most at that level are making 6 figures easy.
232475
NOT NEARLY ENOUGH OF THEM.\nI HOPE ITS HUNDRED'S.
409041
A lot of great engineeres major or minor in physics.
1098522
Physics (from the Greek, φυσικός (phusikos), "natural", and φύσις (phusis), "nature") is the science of Nature in the broadest sense. Physicists study the behavior and properties of matter in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from the sub-nuclear particles from which all ordinary matter is made (particle physics) to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole (cosmology).
69953
World: 6,491,684,537\nU.S.: 297,915,703\nAt 05:34 GMT (EST+5) Jan 16, 2006
505356
I was only able to obtain statistics for the United States. About 1% percent of people over 25 years old living in the US have doctoral degrees. About 2% have terminal professional degrees (considered to be equivalent to a masters degree or higher). Some people lump doctoral and professional degrees together.\nThis is the highest in the world (Because our salaries are better not because we educate people better or are smarter)\nMajor countries with similar educational expectations (that is the level of education the average person attains over a life time)  for children born there include: United Kingdom (England, etal., world's highest), Australia , Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Republic of Korea (South), Libya, Netherlands, New Zeeland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden. Given the total population of all these countries v the remaining world population, it is safe to say less than one in 1,000 people in the world holds a PhD and given that population growth rates are higher in ares other than those countries named it is unlikely to improve.
481517
basically, most of them! billions! hundred billions! more than billions because the internet is all over the world and u cannot actually count them! \n\n=)
1181566
That mother answer is a load of "housewife, can't get a job, aint gonna do anything other than squirt out kids....CRAP!"  get a flipping life you sad twat.\n\nand the answer to your question is NO......the highest Physics Position depends upon the country...if you were to look up Stephen Hawkin and Sir Isaac Newton, you might find a position which they both held/hold.  That is the highest position in Physics (academically).\n\nif you are asking the highest qualification.....kinda depends again.  Would you listen to someone who attained a Nobel Prize in Physics, or someone who managed to crack out a Phd?....hmm tricky.
771712
You ask an interesting question, actuallly.  The techniques used to answer this question keep getting refined and the equipment keeps improving, which allows scientists to make better estimates on this number.  Current estimates have it at roughly 125 billion.  Now, new technolgies may change this estimate - as knowledge improves, scientists reserve the right to change their minds.  :)
1042317
It is one of the subjects that is rapidly coming up. The subject requires in-depth knowledge of Physics, Math & some other disciplines. Opportunities of research are excellent, with a wide vareity if options in higher physics, chemistry, bio-medical frontier research, etc. Job prospects r very bright too. But be prepared for a lot of hard work, dedication & sincerity.
112266
hard question to answer.  What kind of physicist?  Because Stephen Hawking is undoubtably a great and popular theorectical physicist but theres others who have made great contributions like Edward Witten, who in fact has been dubbed by some as "the greatest living physicist."  So there are great physicists each with great contributions... It's all about perspective