The door closed. Steps echoed on the slabs outside. And reality began to dawn. I was free! No more Chemistry! Just four years of pure, university-level physics. I can remember the thrill, but also anxiety. Would it be as fun as I’d hoped? Would I be any good at it?
In some ways those feelings have never left, as a couple of decades passed. As I probed deeper, I found profound simplicity, elegance and beauty. In physics I found a degree (sorry) of transcendence, from the depths of the Planck scale and, perhaps, the dance of String Theory, all the way up to astronomical scales; from the few-eV scale of barely stable binding energies, to the yottawatts of the Sun’s power output. All described by a set of equations that seemed to grow simpler and more beautiful with each year of my course and accompanied by an awe that never left.
But, of course, some things did change. Vastly increased tuition fees risk turning students of nature into simple consumers, and high levels of debt elevated the priority of employability. But physics delivered here, too. Though I ended up in a lab, the career destinations of my peers tell a much more diverse story: they’re in law or shaping government policy, designing transport networks or planning for energy security, or delivering the political holy grail of ‘efficiency savings’ through the application of data science and AI. Physics starts with profound realisations about the world but never ends there. Just as all useful theories of physics must square up to experiment, so you’ll find that the skills that will make you a successful student of physics will age well on your path through the real world that awaits at the end of your degree.
Working for the wellbeing of creation
The great triumphs of understanding in physics that punctuated the 19th and 20th centuries have shaped every aspect of life the world over, mostly for the better. Physics gave us the micro-, and then nano-, electronics that our world relies on, from the silicon driving our phones and cameras, to those that flood our cars, kitchen appliances, and computers. And, once more, at the other end of the scale physics underpins some of the biggest and most powerful devices around us, from power generation to particle beam therapy.
Studying physics will take you to the forefront of human exploration, as physicists undertake social experiments on scales never attempted in human history. CERN - a great example - brings together many thousands of physicists in a common endeavour, with construction already underway for a next-generation particle collider that makes the 27km-long Large Hadron Collider look rather small.
But physics never exists in isolation from the real world around it. Those same particle beams will be used to produce radioactive isotopes that supply hospitals with the raw materials for medical imaging, and innovations in beam technology will continue to drive cancer treatment with ever-increasing power and precision. Ever more sensitive silicon sensors will make their way, in the hands of medical physicists, into small-scale imaging units that meet the modern politician’s promise for devolved, community-level healthcare. The opportunities for the physicist to ‘work for the good of the city’ (see Jeremiah 29:7) are endless.
The broad themes that are true for Christians studying other subjects are no less true for the physicist. You’re engaging with your peers at a unique moment in their journey through life, as many make their first attempt to construct a world away from their parents’ home and inherited views. Physicists are, honestly, regular people. Your peers will share your joy and frustration as you labour at a physics degree. They will pursue meaningful, varied work. And as you continue those friendships into the ‘real world’, you will grapple with mortgages together, have families, grow old, and lose loved ones. Our first responsibility will be, in the context of genuine loving friendship, to share the hope of Jesus with them.
But the Christian physicist will encounter particular opportunities to shape their field. We started this section by recalling the transformation physics brought in the last two hundred years. And – wow! – weren’t these incredible centuries in which to be a physicist? Albert Einstein, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, Niels Bohr, Mileva Maric, Erwin Schrodinger, Caroline Herschel, Max Planck all walking the same Earth within decades of one another!
As the 21st century unfolds, developments remain exciting – see the Higgs boson discovery and that of the gravitational wave – but perhaps not as dramatic as the preceding centuries. Christians can bring patience and perseverance to the pursuit of physics research during the slower times, too, driven always by confidence in a Creator who loves to reveal himself in part through the discoveries he has prepared.
And as we accompany our colleagues, the majority of whom will go to great lengths to shed the ‘burden’ of Christian heritage, we must gently but persistently question the aspects of that heritage that are expedient to retain: why should the laws of physics be consistent? Why should the universe be rational to the human brain? Why should the pursuit of simplicity be a fruitful avenue for theoretical development?
Worshipping the God we work for
As you study physics, particularly as you follow the paths explored by the great minds of your intellectual forebears, a world of staggering beauty will be unveiled. Moments of astonishing insights past will be replayed for you, as scientist after scientist unpicks a stitch or two in the fabric of spacetime – the dances of galaxies and gluons – for you. Allow the awesomeness of those realisations to seize you. Pause to reflect on the super-human stretches of imagination that led to each discovery, but note also the fumbling path often taken to each glorious goal.
As a member of the academy you have the honour of time and a young brain, free from distraction and demands (they will come later through career, family, and friendship!), to be set apart as a full-time marveller. Wonder at it...and thank God for this rare privilege. This sounds a bit theoretical – what could it look like ‘with legs on’ (as I can hear my old Bible-study leader saying)? Each time you sit at your desk in your room or library, take a moment to commit this worksheet, this experiment, this quiz, to the Lord and thank him for it. Redeem the most mundane problem sheet for his glory.
As you pursue your studies, actively remember that you are a tradition-extender. As a physics undergraduate, you may find that a greater proportion of your peers are Christian than you expected – that was certainly my experience. Great! This effect is likely less marked amongst your professors, though, and it may feel as if physics is inherently opposed to faith. Do not believe it! You stand on the shoulders of spiritual giants who built your field: Kepler, Boyle, Newton, Faraday, Johnson… the list is long of those who named Jesus alongside the discoveries they made. And a challenge: these women and men were, at their best, as serious about their rigorous study of Scripture as they were about applying the same rigour to their research. Most of us Christian academics are wildly out of balance compared to them. Be encouraged, and challenged, by the faith of those who precede you in this field.
The Christian physicist brings a unique perspective to their art. They have an ennobling view of their subject, tracing the hand of their creator behind each formula’s pen-stroke. But they remain clear-eyed. Physicists may be ‘priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature’ (Kepler; disputed), but they know that ‘nature cannot revive the soul’ (Keller). See the beauty of your subject and praise God for it. Allow its limitations and failures to drive you to hope in the source of all knowledge and wisdom (Colossians 2:3).
Witnessing to the world
As far as all academic study involves gazing deeply into the world that our God has made, the study of physics provides an opportunity to ‘think God’s thoughts after Him’. Christians can be unashamed to celebrate the beauty of God in the creation we examine – we live in a society that glimpses the value of thankfulness, after all, and we have a great reason to be thankful as we study. Specific aspects of physics allow the Christian to publicly celebrate God’s character in their subject. As mentioned earlier, Christians can be entirely unsurprised to find that God’s world is rational, consistent, and simple, and it can be helpful to (at the right moment) highlight these accidental religious convictions of our secular colleagues.
We must not stop there, though. Long gone are the years when Christians formed a majority – or even a large minority – in the scientific community. Do not be surprised, if you remain in academia, to find that Christians may not be any better represented in physics than in other sectors. But at the same time we need not be ashamed; many of our peers and colleagues are brilliant and wise on the subject of physics, but many have very few grounds on which to have rejected the historical Jesus we love and serve. And all face exactly the same joys and griefs common to humanity.
A life of integrity, consistency, patience, and balance is of inestimable value. All of us must confront the question of where to derive our sense of identity, value, and purpose. Invest in getting your own head and heart clear on these questions early – while still a student – and your peers and colleagues of years to come will take note. The life you live (daily in need of Jesus’ grace and mercy) matters. Friendship matters (for across that bridge your words will travel).
And words matter. Ultimately we must point clearly to Jesus in the gospel. Physics provides many opportunities to point out resonances between our studies, exploration, and the character of our God. But we see the face of Jesus reflected only dimly in the universe over whose creation He presided. Only in the truth of the gospel, expounded in the Bible, do we find the ‘meat’ that some of our colleagues will, perhaps unbeknown to us, be craving. Pray for opportunities to share it. Your peers/colleagues’ desire may seem no greater than the secular world around, but it is certainly no less. May we shine with his beauty as we share his words of grace and rescue over lunch and coffee-break conversations, and in the laboratory.
Press on, Christian physicist!
May we delight in the awesome scales and experimental beauty we find united with mathematical elegance in this subject we have pursued. May our delight overflow into public praise of our creator, who is greater still and more beautiful. May we boldly point to the rescue offered by his Son. As our skill and expertise in pursuing this subject grow, may our confidence in the relevance and sufficiency of God’s merciful provision of Jesus for our peers and colleagues grow in equal measure.
Reflect and discuss
Think: Think back over what you have studied so far in your degree. Where have you seen God's fingerprints? Where have ideas presented to you challenged what you believed to be true?
Live: What do you think your coursemates would know about what is important to you from the way you live? Is there anything you want to change here?
Speak: Are there topics in your subject that are closer to talking about your outlook on life, God or the gospel? Pray for people on your course and for opportunities to share about Jesus with them this term.
Taking it further
- UCCF Science Network resources
- God, Stephen Hawking and the Multiverse, David Hutchings and David Wilkinson
- God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?, John Lennox
- The Existence of God, Richard Swinburne
