astrophysics/physics help

[Hullygully]

Being an arts person meself, these subjects are a mystery to me, but they are what ds wants to study at uni.

Can anyone help with what A levels are best, what unis are best, and what extra-curricular stuff he should be thinking about...?

I would be extremely grateful for any/all advice. He is currently year 9.

He'll probably want to do art history come this time next year.

Happygomummy - may I ask which doors?

Yes, art history or a diploma in frying at McDonald's...

HullyGully -

As might be apparent I did Physics - here's what a few of my friends from college have gone on to do:-

• Research physicist on Mars probes at NASA
• Senior lectureships/professorships in universities and research establishments worldwide - many with connections to CERN/SLAC/FermiLab/JET/ITER etc
• Chief aerodynamicist for a Formula 1 team
• Head trader for large US energy derivatives trading firm
• Senior consultants in consultancies like Accenture/BCG/Deloitte/Mckinsey
• City jobs - quantitative trading/risk analysis/derivatives pricing
• Research jobs in major aerospace firms (BAe/Lockheed etc)
• IT startups

Physics is a rock solid subject and gives you a fantastic grounding for working in just about any sector involving quantitative data and complex, abstract concepts. It's particularly useful in the financial sector as many of the mathematical concepts used there have parallels in Physics and the computing models used are also very familiar.

Goodness, see I don't know ANY of this stuff. Thank you, I shall show ds.

Fascinating thread!

Hullygully - I've ordered a load of these recommended books. Play.com is worth a look as their second hand books are often cheaper than amazon when you add postage.Got the Flatland one on kindle for 56p.
Also been on the local library website and ordered a selection for DS which won't cost me anything.

good plan, inthesticks. I have got far too used to one click ordering..

hullygully - have PM'd you due to identity-revelation paranoia.

Agree entirely with hogsback about advantages of physics.

I'll just add one final point that it is a bugbear that physics and physicists are viewed so often in a pejorative, nerdy way. There may be an element of nerdyness, but it's an absolutely fascinating, beautiful subject.

Mini-rant over.

There are a couple of OU modules that might interest him, but they are a bit pricey and he probably wouldn't want to do them as well as GCSE astronomy.

They are: Introducing Astronomy and How the Universe Works, but this last may be discontinued.

Just seen this - thatnks.