• Question: Do you have a scientist which you look up to, which inspired you?

    Asked by to Nat, Nate, Roberto, Sam, Sarah on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sam Connolly

      Sam Connolly answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      Richard Feynman is probably the most inspiring Scientist I know of (for a lot of other people too). He wasn’t an Astronomer, he did most of his work in Quantum Physics, but his approach to life was pretty amazing. He was always interested in everything, including lots of things outside what he normally did – he even spent a year doing Biology research instead of Physics just to see what it was like. And he always tried to have a lot of fun with what he was doing! He always had a different way to explain things in Science which made them easier to understand, which is definitely something I would like to be able to do! He was also an amazing Scientist and won a Nobel prize and found out a lot of new, important things.

    • Photo: Nate Bastian

      Nate Bastian answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      Actually, not really while I was studying. There wasn’t someone directly that I thought, “wow, I want to be like him/her”. However, I was influenced by the popular science books of Stephan Hawking, Michio Kaku, Rachel Carson, and Carl Sagan. Later on, I became fascinated (and impressed) by people like Niels Bohn and Paul Dirac.

    • Photo: Roberto Trotta

      Roberto Trotta answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      My favourite scientist must be Richard Feynman — he was an American physicist with a great sense of fun, who invented a new way of doing very hard calculations using little pictures, which we now call “Feynman diagram”. He used to play the bongo during lectures, too!

    • Photo: Sarah Casewell

      Sarah Casewell answered on 14 Jun 2014:

      I think the scientist I looked up to most when I was at Uni was my PhD advisor. He could explain pretty much any area of physics really simply at the drop of a hat. I used to watch and listen to him, wondering if I’d ever be able to do that and know so much!

      For famous physicists, I’m going to join everyone else and say Richard Feynman. I read a lot of his essays (not always on physics) when I was in high school, and his thirst for knowledge really inspired me.

    • Photo: Natasha Stephen

      Natasha Stephen answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      I look up to a lot of people all the time. I guess the most influential for me personally weren’t the famous scientists but the ones that I was working with from a young age. They were the ones to inspire and encourage me and my interest in science! That includes my lecturers when I was an undergraduate, the colleagues I work with now and even the students I teach – there is no rule to say that the people that inspire you on a daily basis have to be big and important names!

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