• Question: Did you have any other interests than being a scientist when you were younger?

    Asked by anon-335985 on 7 Oct 2022.
    • Photo: Hugh Birkmyre

      Hugh Birkmyre answered on 7 Oct 2022:

      I wanted to be a doctor for a while, which is also science I suppose. But I also enjoy baking, history, murder mysteries and writing stories (I’ve even published a few) and have ever since I was little. I think it’s better for someone as a person to have a wide variety of interests and not focus too much on one thing.

    • Photo: Harry Dodge

      Harry Dodge answered on 7 Oct 2022:

      I always wanted to be a pilot! From the age of 3, I always had a full Red Arrows Jump suit, the last one I got was my 14th birthday when I had the harsh realisation that I would most likely be too tall to be a pilot.
      However, it was my awe of the aircraft that ended up landing me on my feet as an engineer/ materials scientist.

Comments

  • Photo: Justin

    Justin commented on :

    There was a period when I wanted to be an archaeologist and work in a museum. However I couldn’t imagine there were many jobs in this so I chose to do science instead. Having said that, one of the joys of my job is that I can pick the research topics I work on, and I have deliberately worked with museum conservators and art historians to use chemistry to help them do their work. So for instance, I have helped a museum identify what had been used to paint an ancient Egyptian coffin, and I have used chemistry to match a modern painting to a pot of paint used to paint it so that an art historian could date a picture. They were both pretty exciting.
    I have always been interested in space exploration, and I am working on recyclable plastics that I hope one day will be used in space.