• Question: What made you want to study in the field?

    Asked by N3ll.ba to Alex, Ali, Kerry, Philip, Theo on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Alex Pool

      Alex Pool answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I knew I wanted to be a scientist since I was 7. Originally I wanted to be a forensic scientist, so someone who uses science to solve crimes. When I started university my best friend died of cancer, and I also started studying it and found it fascinating so specialised in cancer instead.

    • Photo: Kerry O'Shea

      Kerry O'Shea answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do after university, but my final year research project got me interested in a career in science. I really enjoyed the work and decided to apply for a PhD!

    • Photo: Philip Ratcliffe

      Philip Ratcliffe answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      ‘Cos I like sitting in the grass.
      Nah, seriously, I don’t really know.
      Chemistry was my first “thing”, but I read so much that I seemed to have exhausted all the interesting stuff before I even got to O-levels.
      Then I got hooked on Maths (and still am) – I think to some extent it was the idea that you could do everything in your head; that is, you could ask questions like “if I need to add up all the numbers from 1 to say 10,000, is there an easy way to do it?” and you can actually find the answer* … from inside your head.
      That’s all a bit too abstract though and I wanted to apply this to what I can touch and see … that’s physics!

      * For those who don’t know, 1+2+3+4+…+N=N(N+1)/2 – ask your maths teachers.

    • Photo: Alison Thomson

      Alison Thomson answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I’ve always been really fascinated by how the human body works during exercise, so I did a degree in Sports Science, followed by an MSc in Human Anatomy. During my anatomy degree I got to do a project, and the professor I was working with was a researcher in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (A type of motor neurone disease). I found it so interesting that when he offered me an opportunity to do a PhD I jumped at the chance!

      Fantastic question!

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