Why are physicists​ so smart?

 

First I’m going to address the statement implicit in the question - are physicists actually very smart?

The below table suggests they are - you’ll notice that physicists are right up there at the top.

The fact that many of the smartest people in history - Einstein, Newton, Galilei, Hawking - have been physicists only supports that viewpoint.

And then there’s Musk.

And myself. Just kidding.

Ok, so why are physicists so smart?

Physics is all about understanding and very little to do with memory - that means to do well in physics you just need to ‘get it’. And so students that get things fast do very well with minimal work, so they love it, and so often end up taking it as a degree. Pretty simple.

If I’m honest, that’s why I did a degree in physics. My interest developed from being good at physics, and not the other way around.

Further, physics is so wacky, unintuitive and rapidly-evolving that it’s damn sexy. The origins and fate of the universe, fundamental particles, a possibility of a Grand Unified Theory? Oooooooooh, so mind-blowingly exciting. It’s very easy to see why physics attracts the world’s smartest, most curious minds…