An official State of Ohio site. Here’s how you know
Contact

Welcome,
New User

User: New User

Date: 10/15/2025

Physicists

Conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories.

View All

    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Perform complex calculations as part of the analysis and evaluation of data, using computers.
    • Describe and express observations and conclusions in mathematical terms.
    • Observe the structure and properties of matter, and the transformation and propagation of energy, using equipment such as masers, lasers, and telescopes, to explore and identify the basic principles governing these phenomena.
    • Design computer simulations to model physical data so that it can be better understood.
    • Analyze data from research conducted to detect and measure physical phenomena.
    • Report experimental results by writing papers for scientific journals or by presenting information at scientific conferences.
    • Teach physics to students.
    • Collaborate with other scientists in the design, development, and testing of experimental, industrial, or medical equipment, instrumentation, and procedures.
    • Write research proposals to receive funding.
    • Develop theories and laws on the basis of observation and experiments, and apply these theories and laws to problems in areas such as nuclear energy, optics, and aerospace technology.

    Skills

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    7
    Workplace Documents
    6
    Graphic Literacy
    6

    Abilities

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    Knowledge

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    Career Video

    Video not available
    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 135550/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 65.17/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 630
    • Yearly Projected Openings 40

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Innovation
    • Achievement/Effort
    • Analytical Thinking
    • Initiative
    • Attention to Detail
    • Integrity

    Tools

    • Accelerometers
    • Amplifiers
    • Analytical balances
    • Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
    • Autosamplers
    • Binocular light compound microscopes
    • Capacitance meters
    • Chromatographic detectors
    • Cryogenic or liquid nitrogen freezers
    • Cryostats
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital camcorders or video cameras
    • Electromagnets
    • Electron microscopes
    • Electronic counters
    • Force or torque sensors
    • Frequency analyzers
    • Frequency calibrator or simulator
    • Frequency counters or timer or dividers
    • Galvanometers
    • Gas chromatographs
    • Geiger counters
    • Goggles
    • High vacuum equipment
    • Infrared spectrometers
    • Injectors
    • Interferometers
    • Ionization chambers
    • Laboratory balances
    • Laboratory box furnaces
    • Laboratory centrifugal pumps
    • Laboratory safety furnaces
    • Laboratory vacuum pumps
    • Laboratory vibrators
    • Laser beam analyzers
    • Laser filters
    • Lasers
    • Leak testing equipment
    • Light scattering equipment
    • Magnetometer geophysical instruments
    • Magnetometers
    • Mass spectrometers
    • Medical computed tomography CT or CAT scanners or tubes
    • Medical magnetic resonance imaging MRI scanners
    • Medical radiation films or badges
    • Mobile or transportable medical linear accelerators
    • Monochromators
    • Multimeters
    • Network analyzers
    • Notebook computers
    • Nuclear magnetic resonance NMR spectrometers
    • Optical beamsplitters
    • Optical breadboards
    • Optical choppers
    • Oscilloscopes
    • Personal computers
    • Photo attachments for microscopes
    • Photometer
    • Photosensitive diodes
    • Plotter printers
    • Pneumatic vacuum equipment
    • Polarizers
    • Pull spring balances
    • Radiation detectors
    • Roughness measuring instruments
    • Scanning electron microscopes
    • Scanning probe microscopes
    • Semiconductor testers
    • Signal conditioners
    • Signal generators
    • Single gas monitors
    • Sound measuring apparatus or decibel meter
    • Spectrometers
    • Spectrophotometers
    • Telescopes
    • Transmission electron microscopes
    • Tube furnaces
    • Tweezers
    • Ultraviolet UV lamps
    • Visual filters
    • Voltage or current meters
    • X ray diffraction equipment

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Cloud-based management software
    • Clustering software
    • Computer aided design CAD software
    • Configuration management software
    • Data base management system software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Desktop publishing software
    • Development environment software
    • Enterprise application integration software
    • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
    • Expert system software
    • File versioning software
    • Graphics or photo imaging software
    • Music or sound editing software
    • Object or component oriented development software
    • Office suite software
    • Operating system software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Video creation and editing software
    • Web platform development software
    • Word processing software
    Need help on researching occupations and careers? Download the Guide to Researching Occupations (PDF).

    Need help on how to research education and training programs? Download the Guide to Higher Education (PDF).

    Budget Calculator

    Answer a few questions to determine your target salary. Use this target salary to help choose the right occupation for you.

    Lifestyle Calculator

    Answer a few questions to determine your target salary. Use this target salary to help choose the right occupation for you.

    Workforce Supply Tool

    Workforce Supply Tool

    The Workforce Supply Tool provides statistics for the occupations in highest demand throughout Ohio.

    You can view statewide statistics as well as more region specific information.

    Visit Site
    Powered By: