Industrial physics & economic prosperity

"Industrial physics is the application of physics knowledge and principles to the design and manufacturing of products," said Steven Lambert, APS Industrial Physics Programme Manager (APS: American Physical Society). "The success of modern technology is built upon a foundation of innovations in physics. Sometimes that's done directly or indirectly, but industrial physicists are the catalysts for making this happen."

One may wonder about the difference between applied physics, engineering physics, and industrial physics.

Applied physics encompasses all areas of physics in terms of how science relates to the real world. It differs from physics in that engineers solve well-defined problems. Applied physics is often deemed as a bridge, linking physics and engineering. Almost all physics is applied in one form or another with the exceptions of particle physics and cosmology.

Students in the USA and in most advanced countries majoring in engineering physics prepare themselves to pursue an advanced degree in the forefront of technology to work in the private sector or in national laboratories. In that sense the degree is one of applied research oriented, specific to the industry or sector of employment.

Industrial physics (in short, INDUSPHY) is more professional, most jobs require just a 4-year degree. It is considered a subset of applied physics. As the name suggests, INDUSPHY is broadly concerned with research and development (R & D) of the science of physics in an industrial setting having significant physics contents. One may then question as to how much of the work to be apportioned as engineering vs industrial physics. In that sense, there is a gray area between engineering physics and industrial physics. We may therefore argue that both engineering physics and industrial physics enjoy an overlapping area of applied physics contributing to human wellbeing and national economic progress.

The APS in partnership with the American Institute of Physics (AIP) pursued an in-depth assessment of the impact of INDUSPHY on the U.S. economy. The major findings were predictably cheering given the industrial sector's ever more dependency on the use of technology. For example, since the mid-1940s, (after WWII) Physics related industries such as computer technology and hardware, semiconductor and sensor manufacturing and consumer electronics (e.g., personal computers, cell phones, GPS, MRI scanners, digital devices, have transformed our life and living like never before). The Information Revolution makes life today virtually unthinkable to someone who lived 75/80 years ago. INDUSPHY have expanded by leaps and bounds and have transformed into major economic engines for the U.S. economy and other advanced economies.

According to the APS report, industrial physicists have been contributing to the U.S. economy in many different capacities. The are working in the industry "not only as researchers, product designers, managers, research directors and entrepreneurs, but also as engineers, chemists, materials scientists, technicians and other scientists and technologists who use experimental or theoretical physical principles within their professions. Industrial physicists are also contributing by applying the laws of physics that govern "the electronic, nuclear, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic, heat and radiation behavior of physical substances -- to conceptualise, design and manufacture physical products and systems, including understanding their use and impact."

An electronic copy of the APS report is available free of charge ([email protected]). Three similar reports have also been published about the economic impact of physics in the UK, Italy, and the EU. A summary of the estimated impact of INDUSPHY on the U.S. economy in the year 2016 as reported by the APS are:

l Estimate showed that in 2016 the direct contributions of INDUSPHY has accounted for 12.6 per cent of the U.S. GDP valued about $2.3 trillion.

l Counting both indirect and induced contributions, INDUSPHY contributed approximately 30 per cent of the U.S. GDP in 2016, or about $5.5 trillion.

l Direct INDUSPHY related employment was accounted for approximately 6 per cent (or 11,500,000 people in 2016) of the total U.S. employment.

l Considering physics-based sectors, the U.S. exports accounted for about $1.1 trillion or 20 per cent of the value added (GDP) by those sectors.

l Over the period 2003 to 2016, approximately 70,000 degree holding physicists joined the industry.

l Between 2010 and 2016, over 340,000 patents (inventions) under physics were received by U.S. companies.

l INDUDPHY has been strongly supported and promoted by the private sector. In 2015, U.S. physics-based companies made internal R&D investments a staggering sum of money to the tune of over $150 billion.

l It was estimated that during a prolonged period of 50 years (1966 - 2016), the value added (real GDP) in physics-based sectors of U.S. industry grew by a factor of 22 while over the same period the real GDP grew by a factor of about 4 (based on 2016 constant dollars).

In the U.K. physics-based industries refer to industries whose enterprises determine ongoing R&D consistently making use of physics knowledge.

The physics sector is an important employer in the UK. This sector is highly productive and employed more than 2.7 million full-time workers nationwide (2019). This accounted for 10 per cent of total UK employment. That rose to 7.62million when indirect and induced enterprise's full-time equivalent employment is counted. Annual labour productivity (output per worker) has been strong and estimated at £84,300.

The largest shares of the industrial physics sector are involved in the production of a wide range of goods, from fibre optic cables to aircraft and medical equipment to support civil and defence objectives. Activities surrounding the science of physics and technology include, among other things, technical testing and analysis and practical scientific consultancy. The energy, oil and gas extraction and telecoms industries are major standalone industries with physics at their heart.

There were 350,135 physics enterprises operating in the UK. The number of physics enterprises in the UK rose by 46 per cent across the decade (2010 - 2019). Most physics businesses are SMEs (99 per cent), which employ a maximum of 9 people. Performance and growth of the sector between 2010 and 2019 showed that in 2019 alone, physics directly generated £229bn or 11 per cent of total UK GDP.

In Bangladesh, the industrial physics Division of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) has been engaged in R & D activities in the field of material and energy, especially electronic material and technology. The scientists in this division have recently been focusing on advanced nanotechnology and are carrying out various scientific and industrial research on nanotechnology such as magnetic nano particles, thin film solar cell, nano ferrites, surface structure of material by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope, up to -3,00,000 magnifications), magnetic stirrer, impedance analyser, and elemental analysis by EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectrometer). Besides testing, standardisation of electrical & electronic instruments/appliances is being carried out as well.

Independent Power Producers (IPPS) supports three physics based research groups in Bangladesh, located at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the Atomic Energy Centre - Dhaka (AECD), and Dhaka University (DU) respectively: a) development of magnetic materials, b) biomedical physics & technology, and c) nanophysics. The Materials Science Group is a collaboration between the Magnetic Materials Division of the AECD, and DU department of Physics, and BUET. The overall objective of the research activity of the group is to acquire enough capability to tackle cutting edge scientific issues within magnetic research and development of magnetic materials.

It seems BCSIR laboratory is one of the few institutions in the country where some R & D activities specific to INDUSPHY are being pursued. Research activities at various universities, including DU and BUET are mostly of engineering physics oriented with lesser relevance to INDUSPHY. There is no listing of physics-based enterprises operating in the country either. There are no assessments of any kind as to the contributions of INDUSPHY or even engineering physics to the country's GDP. Bangladesh has aged 50 years since independence. Unfortunately, we have not been harnessing the contributions of modern science and technology to our potential.

Dr Abdullah A Dewan, formerly a physicist and a nuclear engineer at BAEC, is Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University, [email protected].

Mia M. Nasimullah, Sr. Principal Engineer at Northrop Grumman (M.S. in Engineering Physics, George Mason University,

Virginia, USA.)