wally could you tell me where you studied physics?
I studied engineering at University of Edinburgh (more than a few weeks ago I might add), member of the IME, got my doctorate from Kings college, lectured for a year at MIT, worked far too long in aerospace.
Much happier ( and financially better off!) now.
I studied a lot of what you studied (or prob would have studied), thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, statics, pure maths, quantum physics (granted its got a lot more to do with chemistry - which I also studied to a lesser degree but thats a different story).