Question: Why did you choose geology over other fields?

Kate Dobson answered on 10 Nov 2014:

I didn’t do geology at school, except the little bit of the rock cycle you cover in GCSE geography, and I chose it to be part of my degree at University because it was different and sounded interesting.

The thing I found most exciting about doing geology was that even when we started our degree (when like me, most people haven’t studied geology before) we were being taught the latest ideas and theories. Modern geology is a relatively young subject – plate tectonics has only been around since the 1960s, and it combines lots of different elements of physics and chemistry to understand the Earth. By the time we graduated most of our classes were about very recent discoveries. I enjoyed my physics classes, but they didn’t seem quite so much “at the cutting edge” and there was a lot more “established” theories and formulas to learn.

….and then I got to work on a volcano and realised just how cool it was!