Ramble Meme #1

[aragarna]

nieseryjna asked "I actually would like you to ramble about your road to science and doctorate - where you interested in science since childhood? What was the most important thing that pushed you on that road?"


Well, Nie, that's a very good question. How did I get there?
I've always enjoyed science as a kid. I wasn't "driven" by one subject in particular, but I've always enjoyed learning new things, get a better understanding of the world, and the phenomena that when you're a kid you take for granted, until you start wondering "how does this work?". I was a good student, school was easy, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning new stuff. So, for a long time, I've always wanted to continue studying. When I was a kid, I didn't know you could make a job to "create knowledge" somehow, but then growing up, I learned about Research and Scientists, and it seemed to be the thing I wanted to do. I didn't know what concretly it would look like, as a daily job, but yes, I think it was the idea to create knowledge and (gosh it sounds to pompuous said that way!) participate to the discovery of the world and how it works.

I've always thought that somehow, I was born too late, because the biggest discoveries have been made already. There's still a lot to discover in every scientific fields, but it's details compared to the what's been discovered in the past centuries.
One job that has always made me dream (even if I'm not sure I would actually have dared to do it) was Explorer, like Colomb or Magellan. Can you imagine what it was like to discover new lands? Actually mapping the planet as you go? Realizing it had to be round?
My biggest regret is to have been too late to witness the Moon Landing. When my mum, who was just a kid at the time, talks about it, it sounds so magical. The Moon is the modern America. Neil Armstrong is the last Christopher Colombus. And that was the first time we left Earth. Even if we ever go to Mars (which won't happen any time soon, if at all), that'll be just one step farther, the second step. It won't be the same as that first landing on another planet (even if technically the Moon is a satellite, but the symbol remains).

In high school, I enjoyed everything, but especially Physics and Chemistry. And also geology. Geology is a misunderstood science. Yes, a piece of rock looks boring. It doesn't stand a chance compared to baby red pandas... But that piece of rock can tell you incredible stories about the dynamic of Earth. Earth is moving, breathing, changing. Earth was born 4.5 Giga years ago! From a Nebula.... [...] And it all started with a Big Bang, 13.7 Gy ago! Isn't that super cool?
So, I went to a Geology School. Geology is, more practically, also a VERY important science in today's world. How do you think we find the oil for your car, or the rare metals for your phone?
But I prefer pure science. Science for the sake of science. And in that school, I discovered a new subject: geochemistry. Now, this is something fun. From the chemical composition of a rock, you can tell its age. And from there, you can date a geologic event, and even the birth of Earth. And you can do that with extraterrestrial rocks too! Meteorites, Moon samples, Martian rocks! You can unravel the whole story of the solar system! Isn't that cool or what?
Oh, and yes, well, going farther and farther into school degrees, I discovered my limits... Physics, no matter how cool it could have been to work on stuff like string theory, wasn't for me. Math is cool too, to a certain degree. But Math is just a tool for Physics and we're back to the fact I'm not a genius...
But geochemistry, a mix of geology and chemistry, I could do.
I met geochemists, passed my Master degree, and then looked for a PhD in that field.
Cosmochemistry is just a sub-specialty. The "geo" in Geochemistry refers to Earth, so when you're studying meteorites, it doesn't apply. So, it's called Cosmochemistry, which sounds even cooler.
I ended up doing a PhD in Cosmochemistry.

And as someone that understands the value of old rocks, especially extraterrestrial rocks, I was over the Moon that a White Collar episode featured a piece of Moon as something highly valuable. And I'm glad that Peter rolled his eyes at Neal's bluff about the rock turning into dust, because, well, you know, it's still just a simple piece of rock! And unless you're a cosmochemist who wants to study the oxygen isotopic composition of that piece of Moon, it just doesn't matter at all whether your rock is in contact with the terrestrial atmosphere. And even then.

And, you know, I can see that when I tell people I have a PhD, it sounds very impressive and all. But it's just that studying is what I was good at. We all have our own set of skills and talents. I liked school, I stayed in school. That doesn't make me a genius. I can't do a thing with my hands, and I've always admire crafty people, or artistic people.

Oh, and I said I was born too late. I more and more think that I was also born too early. Just a few years later, and I would have become a geek much younger, and I would have either been into computer science, or I would have become a digital designer.

Wow, that was quite a ramble. I don't promise the other will be so long!

The Ramble Meme is still open to questions