• Question: What Science subjects did you do in school?

    Asked by kdog3000 to Enda, Kate, Jean, Kev, Tim on 12 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by aoifecaldwell, aoiferidge, lukedoyle, patrikasp.
    • Photo: Enda O'Connell

      Enda O'Connell answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hi @kdog3000, @aoifecaldwell, @aoiferidge and @lukedoyle.

      In secondary school I studied Biology and Chemistry for the Leaving Cert, which were my favourite subjects along with History. I had a really good Biology teacher, Mr Fitzgerald who encouraged us to read more than what was in our text books. That led me to 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.

      (A really great new popular science book I’d encourage everyone to read is called “Don’t Swallow Your Gum” which disproves different medical myths like “you only use 10% of your brain” and “chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years”.)

      After school, I knew I wanted to study Science in college so I went to some of the Open Days and decided UCD was the place for me. I started off on the General Science degree, specialising in Industrial Microbiology by 3rd and 4th year.

      After a 3 month 4th year 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 I preferred academic 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.

    • Photo: Jean Bourke

      Jean Bourke answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hi.
      I studied physics, chemistry, biology, art and French. I think it’s important to broaden your horizon and study different things until you find what you like the most. I must admit that the teachers that taught certain subjects effected my choices as some teachers were great and really capable of enthusing us about a subject.

      I’ve always loved languages and, being half Greek, I’m bilingual so I tend to pick up languages well. I did German as far as JC but couldn’t keep it; and when I was in Italy I picked up a good bit of Italian. When I finish my PhD I want to do an Italian language course to reach a decent level.

      Art is great fun as a subject and my art teacher, Ms. Byrne, was great. She always encouraged us to be creative. Most people I was in school with thought I’d end up studying fine art but I loved science too much.

      I studied all the science topics and liked them all. The more you like a subject, the better you tend to do in it, though having a good teacher makes a big difference! Chemistry was always my favourite and though I did well in all 3 I always found chemistry the easiest to learn, as a result I was leaning toward a chemistry degree to begin with.

      When I was a teenager the magazines I liked to read were Vogue and New Scientist (eclectic, I know). Reading about current scientific discoveries got me really excited about the world of science. Initially I wasn’t sure what course I wanted to do in college but I knew I wanted to study something scientific.

      As I wanted to help cure diseases I initially I looked into doing pharmacy but when I came across medicinal chemistry in TCD it seemed perfect. I really enjoyed my undergraduate degree and wanted to take my academic career further. There was a new lecturer in TCD and he gave a talk about his current research topic and I found one particularly interesting. An application and some funding later here I am in the final year of my PhD.

    • Photo: Kevin Lomasney

      Kevin Lomasney answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hi guys,

      I studied biology, chemistry, physics, geography and french. My favorites I must admit were Biology (great teacher and I was always interested in it) French and geography. Like most of the scientists here I think, I would consider myself fairly well rounded. Science is my main focus but I love languages and the arts (music, art, film). Expression and creativity are critical to science and so in my view science and art can work very well together. So whatever you guys decide to do after school, don’t forget about your other interests. Very few people have just one interest!!

    • Photo: Tim Downing

      Tim Downing answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      Hi kdog3000, aoifecaldwell, aoiferidge, lukedoyle,

      I did science for the Junior Cert and then Biology and Chemistry for the Leaving Cert. When I did a transition year course on how genetic mutations affect anatomy and structure in people I knew I wanted to explore genetics further. So after the Leaving Cert, I did genetics at Trinity College. There I focused more on human disease and we examined cystic fibrosis patients in my final year undergrad project. Having done biology and chemistry at school made my understanding of basic science going into college better, but it’s not essential and you can almost change entirely what you do in college.

      Tim

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