Question: What inspired you to become a scientist and what did you have to do to get there?

Alexander Allen answered on 10 Mar 2019:

When I was about 5 or 6 I had a friend who had recently learned to name the planets in the solar system (Pluto used to be a planet then) and he used to draw pictures of them and I had to do the same (I loved drawing). I then used to read books and learn facts like how many moons each had and what they looked like.

Then in school I had some great science teachers… we got to heat all sorts of chemicals and use Bunsen burners when I was 8 because my primary school was attached to the secondary school. I loved asking questions and thinking about how the world works.

I was good at science and my grades were never that bad – some were even good. Everyone in my school were put together to apply for university and I picked physics rather than engineering and when I started studying it I fell in love with it. I met scientists and heard about more who all had so much passion about what they did!

I knew I wanted to do it at that point but when I finished my degree there wasn’t enough space to take me on for a PhD. I then decided to go into the world of work – working in a call centre, in IT and writing training courses for people. I kept applying and was eventually accepted. I love what I do and what I had to do was enjoy it and keep trying. The first time you may not succeed but you can always be persistent! Keep going if it’s what you want to do!