• Question: Why did you want to become scientist?

    Asked by poppymaileysayzhi to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 8 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by 473rhed39.
    • Photo: Kate Wright

      Kate Wright answered on 8 Nov 2015:

      Hi,

      I’m not sure I ever really decided that I wanted to be a scientist, I just kept doing things I enjoyed and it sort of just happened…
      I did Physics, Maths and German at A level because they were the subjects I enjoyed most, and I studied Physics at uni because I thought it was really interesting. Even after I graduated I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do as a job but I took some time to think about my options and decided I wanted to be a Physicist in the nuclear industry and now.. here I am!

      Thanks for the question,
      Kate

    • Photo: Rachel McMullan

      Rachel McMullan answered on 8 Nov 2015:

      Hi
      I don’t think I decided to become a scientist until quite recently. I did biology and chemistry A-levels and decided to do biochemistry at uni because I enjoyed it. The first year at uni was really hard and I told myself I was never, ever going to be a scientist but the second and third years of my course were so interesting I decided to do a PhD (a second research based degree).
      Even after my PhD it took me a while to decide I wanted to continue working in science. One day I realised I had so many questions about my project that I didn’t know the answers to. After that there was no way I could do anything else.

    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 8 Nov 2015:

      Hello Poppy,

      When I was young I really wanted to be a dinosaur, but then I got older an realised that isn’t possible, so had to find something else to be.
      I’d always liked science – I found it fun at school, read the Horrible Science books and even watched some TV programmes about science. I loved everything about space and found it really fascinating, but then I got introduced to chemistry at secondary school and was amazed by the atomic world too. Eventually I decided that was the way to go and that’s where I am today.

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      Hey Poppy,

      I didn’t really think about being a scientist but through my interest in sport and the human body science kept coming up. In order to understand my own training and performance better I realised I would have to study science more deeply. So far it’s been a really varied journey as I have moved from sport and exercise science to medical headline investigator and lecturer/researcher in evidence-based medicine.

      Thanks for the question.
      David

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