• Question: What made you to choose doing your work as a job in life?

    Asked by drewgreenwood to Michael, Sive, Emma, Ciara, Cathal on 11 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by julieann13.
    • Photo: Michael Nolan

      Michael Nolan answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Hi,

      Good question. This always comes up at some point.
      AT school I was good at Maths and Chemistry and some areas of Physics. I remember two experiments in 6th year: one where you add some sodium to a bucket of water and watch Chemistry happen as the explosion takes place and the other where you do a titrations with permangante and the colour changes in front of you. Magic?
      I plumped for Chemistry at University. Turned out I was not so good in the lab, which is a potential problem for a Chemist. Then we had a course on quantum mechanics and applications in chemistry and I was hooked. I was lucky (many science careers have a large slice of luck or serendipity in them) then to go to Germany for a year where there was a 6 month course on theoretical and computational chemistry. This means applying quantum mechanics in chemistry and using computers to actually do this. As numbers that you can measure in the lab fell out of the calculations, this was amazing.

      I then went and did a Masters and PhD in the area of computational chemistry, using better and faster computers to calculate properties of new materials and am still doing this. I have been fortunate to be able to identify the right people to work with and the right areas to work in, thus producing science that is of use.

      So, a combination of luck (“fortune favours the prepared mind” Pasteur) in finding what I was good at, and good people around me lead me here.

      Hope this answers your question.

      M

    • Photo: Cathal Cummins

      Cathal Cummins answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      A passion for mathematics and a curiosity for how nature works is what made me want this job. My particular field: applied mathematics is concerned with everyday situations and how mathematics relates to them. When I’m doing maths, I like to think — how does this relate to the real world and in this branch of mathematics, I can do that!

    • Photo: Emma Cahill

      Emma Cahill answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hey Drew,
      For me I originally wanted to be a Science teacher, but when I got to college I realised I could do science practically and give lectures in a University if I was a scientist. So that made me interested in doing both research and teaching.
      Its very difficult nowadays to get funding for scientific research and thats what pays most scientists salaries so I admit I have had doubts before! But other benefits such as the travel involved and freedom make the effort worthwhile.

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