• Question: what or who inspired you to become a scientist?

    Asked by LilyS on 30 Sep 2025. This question was also asked by chug532cart6, moas535muns6, boxy535muns6, herd535muns6, echo532cube74, dray532agha26, RitaN.
    • Photo: Emily Walls

      Emily Walls answered on 30 Sep 2025:

      A mix of people inspired me to become a scientist! Growing up, I was interested in space and my mum and dad supported me so much that they really inspired me to do what I was passionate about regardless of any obstacles I faced along the way. Within physics, I have had many mentors who have inspired and shaped the way I do science, particually my masters supervisor – she is an amazing woman who pushed me to produce the best science I could! More bigger names that you could be familiar with is Dr Becky who makes YouTube videos on space, Jim Al-Khalili and Brian Cox for all of their interesting documentaries across the years as well.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 15 Oct 2025:

      I was always interested in science when I was growing up so knew it would be the career path I would take. Though it was my Mum who inspired me to keep going and find the area that I would really enjoy working in.
      I originally went to university to study physics and become a researcher but I didn’t get on very well with quantum physics but really liked the programming and equipment side so switched to a course more directed at them. I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do that without my mum supporting me.

    • Photo: Michael Gillin

      Michael Gillin answered on 20 Feb 2026:

      The first person was Marie Curie becuase of her refusal to let obstacles (whether social, financial, or physical) dictate her potential. She didn’t just study science, she redefined it, and became the first person to win Nobel Prizes while maintaining a humble, humanitarian heart. She achieved so much in extremely tough conditions, but perservered, and is remembered accordingly.

      The second person was my Year 9 chemistry teacher, Mr Dunkin, who was your textbook example of a mad scientist. Always going the extra mile to explain concepts, randomly blowing stuff up, and had a really infectious love for science. From the third lesson, I was hooked on chemistry, and now I am pursuing a PhD in the field.

    • Photo: Pratibha Gautam

      Pratibha Gautam answered on 26 Feb 2026:

      I was always fascinated by space, and wanted to have a doctor title in front of my name. When combining these two-I followed the career path that led me to become a scientist.

    • Photo: Lorelei Robertson

      Lorelei Robertson answered on 26 Feb 2026:

      I don’t think I can pinpoint it to an exact thing or person. I was lucky that I grew up with people around me that encouraged me to persue what I enjoyed. Science was always something that fascinated me, so I kept following my curiosity until I ended up in the job that I’m in.

    • Photo: Becky Paddock

      Becky Paddock answered on 27 Feb 2026:

      I think the first person that inspired me to become a scientist was my dad who was an engineer. We would often stay up late talking about the latest discoveries, watching the stars and asking questions and he encouraged me that I could be anything I wanted to be. I loved learning all about science at school and having great teachers who explained everything nicely was a great help.

    • Photo: Sarah Chard

      Sarah Chard answered on 1 Mar 2026:

      My chemistry teacher at secondary school inspired me to become a scientist. I was always interested in science but seeing another female in a science role was inspirational. She always took time to answer my questions and made all lessons fun whether we were doing a practical or not. She also took interest in helping me with my university application so I would say without her I would not be where I am now.

    • Photo: Mark Ridgill

      Mark Ridgill answered on 2 Mar 2026:

      At school we had the freedom to carry out some multi step organic syntheses in year 12/13 which was great fun and got me hooked.

      On a visit to a local university one of the students was collected crystals of benzoic acid in the lab and drew the structure for us and I undrstoood that there were millions of tiny benzoic acid molecules in the white powder

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    I grew up being an animal lover, although I didn’t initially realise that I wanted to be a vet. When I learned about Dr Jane Goodall’s work with animals, particularly in recognising their individual personalities, their intelligence, the ways in which they live in groups and their capacity to communicate with each other (and us, too, if we take the time to notice what they’re telling us without speaking) that confirmed that I wanted to help animals more generally. Being a vet means there are lots of different ways in which I can help animals, whether as a clinical vet (like the one you take your own animal to) or as a researcher or many other jobs which are open to somebody with a vet degree.