• Question: When did you realise you wanted to be a scientist?

    Asked by Issy to Kevin on 9 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Kevin Pollock

      Kevin Pollock answered on 9 Jun 2017:

      I was always inquisitive and wanted to know about experiments and the solar system for example. I guess once I was picking my subjects at school (when I was 13), I knew I wanted to do science (I picked chemistry, physics and biology).

Comments

  • christldonnelly commented on :

    First I wanted to be a veterinarian (like James Herriot – I LOVED his books:
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Creatures-Great-Small-Yorkshire/dp/1447225996 ) – I was also interested in marine biology – from watching

    I went to university thinking I would study biology – but I switched to maths in year 2 (of 4). [US undergraduate degrees include a range of topics – I got a ‘major’ in mathematics – but I still took two years of chemistry and a year and half of biology. For something multi-disciplinary like epidemiology it was a great background.] I decided to do post-grad study in biostatistics – that is the use of statistics (my maths abilities) in medical and/or biological problems. Perfect for me! That was where I first encountered the use of maths and stats to understand how infectious diseases spread. I did a masters project on the transmission of two strains of HIV transmitting and from prostitutes in West Africa.