• Question: What happened in your life to make you want to be a Scientist?

    Asked by anon-186928 to Stewart, Miriam, Marton, Laura, Kathryn, David on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: David Ho

      David Ho answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Great question! I enjoyed science lessons in school, and was good at them, so I decided I wanted to study a degree in science. By the end of my degree I had specialised in physics and I really enjoyed what I was doing — I love solving problems and that’s basically what science is! I spoke to some scientists I knew and I found that the most passionate ones seemed to love what they were doing, and I hoped that I’d love it too. I applied for the PhD position (training to be a doctor of Physics) and luckily I got accepted, and I’m still enjoying being a scientist so far!

    • Photo: Marton Olbei

      Marton Olbei answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      There was no single point that led me to this – I was just really curious about biology, and wanted to learn about it as much as I could. When I started university I wasn’t even that interested in research, I was just curious about what else is there to know about life!

    • Photo: Miriam Hogg

      Miriam Hogg answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      When I was younger my Dad used to get New Scientist and I would read it. I remember reading an article where they were talking about the shapes of galaxies and they said they didn’t know why some galaxies had spirals. I remember being surprised that they didn’t know and I wanted to help find an answer. I always loved the pictures from space as well.
      I went through GCSE and A-level and still wanted to do it so I chose subjects to help with that choice. When I was in my A-levels they actually solved the problem of why galaxies have spirals. But there are so many other problems we haven’t solved so I carried on with my plan to do science.

    • Photo: Stewart Martin-Haugh

      Stewart Martin-Haugh answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      I enjoyed reading about physics, but this really got going during the summer between GCSE and A-Level – I read a book called The Emperor’s New Mind by Roger Penrose and this made me change from Economics to Physics A-Level.

      I didn’t really get on with Physics A-Level but from reading more about physics I would be convinced it would be more fun at university. It is!

    • Photo: Kathryn Coldham

      Kathryn Coldham answered on 9 Nov 2018:

      Good question! It was when the machine I work on, called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), started up in 2008 (when I was 13 years old). This was the first time I heard about the LHC and CERN, so seeing the media coverage was a big inspiration! Also, working with fantastic people along the way has further inspired me to be a Scientist 🙂

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