The new editor blasts off
Can you remember why you decided to become a scientist?
I can. When I was at primary school we were taken out of our classrooms one day to sit in the school hall and watch TV. We saw the lunar module, Eagle, landing on the surface of the moon and the astronauts coming down the steps to walk on the surface of the moon for the very first time. It was the most exciting event that I had ever seen and it told me that science and technology were the most exciting pursuits in the world at that time. So I really enjoyed science at school, and at home there were Dr Who and Star Trek on the TV and the stories of Isaac Asimov (a professor of Biochemistry) and other great science fiction writers to read. I dreamt of spending my adult life visiting other planets and making friends with aliens.
That was 1969. Now, in 2010, things look different. I am very disappointed that I can't take my daughter on holiday to Moon Base One and that aliens haven't made first contact. On the plus side there are still astronauts Dr Who has been revived and NASA tells us that the first person to land on Mars has already been born.
I have never regretted my decision to pursue science and study chemistry. There are many people like us, fascinated by science and technology and keen to pass our enthusiasm on to another generation. It's our responsibility as scientists and educators to make science as inspirational as the space programme and to lead more young people to become scientists.
As I enter the command module at Education in Chemistry I want to make Chemistry as exciting as we possibly can.
Please email me with your thoughts and ideas.
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