Learn about the types of people who become particle physicists. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.
Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024
This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a particle physicist. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.
More men than women are interested in becoming particle physicists at a ratio of 2.75 to 1.
Actual Gender Mix, 2024
18% of particle physicists are female and 82% are male.
Gender Bias, 2024
This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a particle physicist and the actual gender mix of people in the career.
If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a particle physicist and those who end up becoming one.
In this case there are more women interested in becoming a particle physicist than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.