• Question: what was your childhood dream before you thought of being a scientist?

    Asked by faux485var to John, Tom on 21 Jun 2023. This question was also asked by Ella3913.
    • Photo: John Grasmeder

      John Grasmeder answered on 21 Jun 2023:

      When I was 4 years old, my dad got me out of bed in the middle of the night so we could watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon. It was amazing, so I wanted to be an astronaut. I quickly figured out that you has to be American to be an astronaut so instead I became interested in the stars and planets. I got a telescope one Christmas, so I could see the moon and some of the planets more close up. I wanted to be an astronomer. Once I got into secondary school, I started to really enjoy chemistry, so that is why I became a chemist. But I still have a reflecting telescope at home, which I use on clear mights to look at the rings of Saturn and the red spot on Jupiter (which looks grey through my telescope!)

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