Question: How did you know that you wanted to become a scientist ? Do you have any tips of how to find out what your passion is or will be ?

Sam Connolly answered on 23 Jun 2014:

I didn’t know that I wanted to be a Scientist as such, I just knew I liked Science! I always liked science at school, so when it came to picking my A-levels I chose physics and chemistry (and maths), because I enjoyed them and found them interesting. This meant that when I came to choosing a University degree course I had options which were related to what I enjoyed already, so were likely to be things I found interesting. I chose Physics, because it was my favourite A-level. Then when I was doing my degree I did a lot of different kinds of physics, but in the end it was Astronomy I found most interesting. And even then, I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to actually do research until I’d tried it for a bit and found I enjoyed it! So my tips on finding your passion are pretty simple – try as many things as you can and take all the opportunities that are given to you to try new things, then continue with the things you enjoy and find interesting! That way you’ll be lead towards other things you are very likely to also enjoy, until you find what you’re looking for 🙂