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Asked by grannyhandskiway to Enda, Kev, Jean, Kate, Tim on 12 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by kdog3000, gerard64, amynevin, bengormley, princessastronaut.
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Enda O'Connell answered on 12 Nov 2012:
@grannyhandskiway (nice username, by the way!)
I loved science at school, particularly Biology and Chemistry, which also happened to be my best subjects along with History. I had a really good Biology teacher, Mr. Fitzgerald, who didn’t just stick to the text books, but challenged us to take a topic and try to find out more information than was in our book and to present it for 3 mins to the rest of the class, even if it was just reading out what we had written.
That led me in transition year to look in the popular science section in Eason’s where i picked up two amazing books; “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, about scientists working with the Ebola virus, both in the field and in specially designed labs; and “River out of Eden” by Richard Dawkins, which is a really great introduction to evolution and changed the way I looked at the world around me forever.
After that, I was hooked and started looking into University courses, where I settled on Science in UCD, where I ended up specialising in Industrial Microbiology, but with some Biochemistry and Chemistry along the way. In fourth year I spent 3 months on a placement in the Public Analyst’s Lab, where it was great to see a working service lab in action testing food and water samples every day. I decided, though, that I preferred research and looked into which PhD positions were available. One came up in Microbiology in UCD, and I started studying a bacteria called Rhodococcus equi, which causes pneumonia in young foals, but also people with poor immune systems.
The skills I learned during my PhD, then helped me get my current job in NUI Galway, which is where I have been for the past seven years.
To make a long story short then, it was during school, where my interest in Science was encouraged by a really great teacher, to whom I am eternally grateful!
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Kevin Lomasney answered on 12 Nov 2012:
@grannyhandskiway
That is some username alright! To be honest I did not completely decide on science as my path until after leaving cert, although I was always leaning toward it. From a young age I found the world around me fascinating. I remember one of the first questions I had in my head was why are leaves green and when I found out the explanation I was hooked! I wanted explanations for everything!! What a geek I know. Actually I remember when I was in primary school we used to have quizzes and me being a geek I always took the science questions while all the other lads took sport! Funny, because I love sport now, especially running, swimming and soccer.
Anyway, I found as I progressed through secondary school I maintained my fascination for science and actually I really loved geography too (which very science like at times!). However, I also developed a love of French and History (especially ancient history) so it wasn’t as clear cut as you might think to make a decision for Uni! If I could have done a Science course with French I would have been all over it! In the end I chose science as it was always my strong point and I also loved the idea of making my own discoveries someday! Which is what I hope I am doing now!!! ha ha!
All is not lost though for those other subjects and that is the beauty of working in science. My lab is very international, it has people from all over the world, France, Holland, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, Chile and the list goes on! So not only have I been able to practice my french (all part of good communication skills!) but I have also learned a few words of Italian and Spanish too! I was in Italy to present my work in September so this came in very handy! And guess what…as you probably know, Italy is full of ancient history! So as you can see I am very happy with my career path and science doesn’t just mean being stuck in a lab, you can exercise all your interests if you’re enthusiastic and creative enough!
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Tim Downing answered on 13 Nov 2012:
Hi grannyhandskiway, kdog3000, gerard64, amynevin,
I did biology, chemistry and art at school and was fascinated by a transition year course on human genetic mutations. These cause great changes in our anatomy and these made me more interested in genetics. But I also liked art, and was considering being an architect too. These are quite different but then thinking of defined career paths at that age might be too early.
I opted for genetics in college with an open mind of where it might lead. Eventually I found that my main interest was in evolution – and the main useful aspect of that is exploring how infection evolves. I still could have done other things after my undergrad work. But in my case, after doing a final year project on people with cystic fibrosis I needed to learn more computer skills to cope with future technology changes in gene sequencing.
So at DCU I did a computational biology course, which led to a PhD project on immune system evolution in birds. Then I crossed from host (human) to examining the pathogen – like parasites. This meant I could understand how immune systems defend against parasite invasion. So my career path (so far!) has been defined by what skills I need to answer questions on health – but I like to think I’ve still a long career path still ahead of me! 🙂
Tim
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Jean Bourke answered on 20 Nov 2012:
Hi,
I’ve been thinking about this and I think it was around 15 or 16. Now I’m sure of my choice but then I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I probably had not thought about it that much.
I read a lot: books, magazines, news sites, blogs, wikipedia. When I was a teenager I used to read Vogue and New Scientist. A somewhat strange combination I think you’ll agree! That is what initially got me interested in science and made me enthusiastic.
I also decide around then that I wanted to try and help people. Since I don’t like dealing with blood and other bodily fluids, I decided against medicine or nursing. For a while I wanted to be a pharmacist but I changed my CAO application to Medicinal Chemistry as first choice. I did this because I felt I could make more of a difference working in science and because I was more interested in finding out how things work than treating patient.
Also, I’ve maintained my interest in fashion. Just coz you’re a scientist doesn’t mean you have to dress badly. Don’t believe the stereotypes! We are fabulous!
Don’t stress about picking a career too early. Work hard and find what interests you. If you work on something that interests you, it seems a lot less like hard work!
Comments
grannyhandskiway commented on :
thanks guys your the best! glad you like my username I will be the first scientist with granny hands!