To fully understand the significance of their versatility, we need to view physics as a liberal art. However, today physics is viewed as a mathematically intense science, which uses careful measurement, deductive reasoning and inspired intuition to explain the fundamental reasons for why nature acts the way that it does. Yet, in practice, physics is still based on the liberal arts. Physicists use the symmetry of geometry, the orthogonal properties of harmonics and the power of logic to weave theories that attempt to unify the motion of electrons and galaxies. Many people who study physics for the first time find themselves drawn into the mathematical representations of theories, and forget that doing the math and understanding the physics are two distinct things.
Modern physics can explain how things are, but it does a poor job of explaining why.
While science heavy programs often neglect the unification of nature with the sentient beings that occupy it, a proper physics education requires the learner to understand how physics relates the most fundamental principles of nature. A strong humanities component to education helps to fill the gap created from our increasingly compartmentalized education. But these physicists were great precisely because of their broad-based understanding of how physics relates to those very facets of human knowledge. Physics is not just a noble path where knowledge is more important than making a living. Those who successfully obtain a degree in physics can count on being among the most employable of college graduates.