When did you first know you would be a physicist?

[accountkiller]

For some, it seems like they were destined to be a physicist and knew it from the start. Einstein was amazed by his father's compass when he was just a boy, Richard Feynman watched gravity at work when he placed a ball on a toy truck when he was a kid, etc. It seems like the 'greats' had a bond with physics as soon as they popped out of the womb. So I'm curious, what about everyone else?

Did you love physics when you were in elementary, or high school? Did you never give it much thought except when you got to college and had to choose a major? Were you good at physics and so naturally thought it was the way to go? Or were you not very good or average at physics but enjoyed it so worked hard anyway? Did you graduate with a degree other than physics but found yourself working in a physics lab and enjoyed it and so continued there?

What's the story?
I'm currently torn between physics and another major and so am interested in hearing the physics life story of all others. If you have the time, I'd appreciate a response!

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

For me it was at the age of 10-11 that my aunt took me to the planterium, I got fascinated from cosmology and astrophysics.

I finished a Bsc degree in math and physics, and after a break from studies I might return to Msc in pure math.

When I started my studies I was dead serious on being a professor in math and physics, but nowadays I am quite content of learning as much as my time let's me without bothering what my future occupation will be.

 

[Kritmiss]

For me it was sitting in chemistry class!

We were being shown the periodic table for the first time and it was my introduction to physical chemistry - I couldn't believe that people had worked all this out, how the elements reacted with one another, why some would be radioactive and the story of how radioactivity was discovered fascinated me.

From then onwards physics was going to be my subject, I decided that I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. I'm not sure the subject is quite so fashionable these days!

Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", both the series and the book were also inspirational to me.

 

[fillipeano]

I was always fascinated with science and how things worked, especially the natural sciences (I loved learning about weather and space and Earth science). In high school I was afraid of taking math, so I wanted to major in music till I learned how hard it is to make a living off of it.
I wanted to major in computer programming and graphics design/video game design until I learned that I wasn't as into it as I thought I would be. My first year of college I wanted to study sports business, but again, I was extremely bored with business.

Throughout my years I've always watched specials on TV about astronomy, cosmology, and physics but I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to do the math. Eventually I took an astronomy class in college and my teacher always told us about gravity, the planets, and all the cool stuff. After that (and a few doses of Neil Tyson) I knew that physics and astronomy was what I wanted to do, no matter what it took.

 

[Mororvia]

I knew I wanted to be a physicist once I wasn't accepted into the engineering school in my junior year. True story. It took me a while to decide between math, physics and chemistry though.

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

Amongst other things, someone I barely knew dared me. It was during my last year of high school.

 

[lisab]

Amongst other things, someone I barely knew dared me. It was during my last year of high school.

nice

Reminds me of what a high school counselor told me about attending college..."Well that's only for the top students."

I guess it was physical chemistry (which I loved but struggled in) that really made me notice how cool physics is. I switched to physics and never looked back at chemistry. It added a lot of time to my college career, but ah well.

Now I work as a chemist. Sigh.

 

[jhae2.718]

Reminds me of what a high school counselor told me about attending college..."Well that's only for the top students."

That's a crap counselor.

 

[jtbell]

When I started college I had taken two years each of chemistry and physics in high school and was still undecided about which way to go. Then I took calculus-based freshman physics (Halliday & Resnick textbook). In the second semester, we worked through Maxwell's equations and I thought, "wow, this is cool!" So I stuck with physics.

 

[physics girl phd]

Not sure WHEN this dream occurred (sometime in middle school or beyond)... but I think it was a dream about Julius Sumner Miller teaching me a College English class in my middle school cafeteria. Just knew physics would be my business.

Of course I didn't REALLY declare my physics major until my second term of undergrad, when (like lisab) I switched from chem.. and because, besides basic interest, I figured it was something that would be pretty time-consuming -- I'd just broken up with my first boyfriend and felt I needed to prove something. Stupid me.

 

[chiro]

Note: My major is math not physics per se.

I was lucky to be pushed into math at an early age. I did extra tutoring for math ("kumon" its called in Australia) and went well in that and math competitions (not the olympiad kind though).

Then a friend in year 6 introduced me to the BASIC language and I was just in awe of how these weird commands were used to create these programs (think "gorilla.bas" and "snake.bas") as well as those text based RPG games and so on.

I basically spent all my free time outside of school (up until end of high school when I was 18) learning everything from algorithms to design to programming device drivers and heaps of stuff related to 3D programming from basic matrix transforms to full assembler triangle rendering (using textures).

Along the way of learning all that I was exposed to a tonne of math and I really wanted to deeply understand what was going on whether it was a Fourier transform or a monte-carlo simulation so after I become a little bored of coding I switched my attention to math.

 

[chiro]

Note: My major is math not physics per se.

I was lucky to be pushed into math at an early age. I did extra tutoring for math ("kumon" its called in Australia) and went well in that and math competitions (not the olympiad kind though).

Then a friend in year 6 introduced me to the BASIC language and I was just in awe of how these weird commands were used to create these programs (think "gorilla.bas" and "snake.bas") as well as those text based RPG games and so on.

I basically spent all my free time outside of school (up until end of high school when I was 18) learning everything from algorithms to design to programming device drivers and heaps of stuff related to 3D programming from basic matrix transforms to full assembler triangle rendering (using textures).

Along the way of learning all that I was exposed to a tonne of math and I really wanted to deeply understand what was going on whether it was a Fourier transform or a monte-carlo simulation so after I become a little bored of coding I switched my attention to math.

 

[accountkiller]

Well, this is a late reply because I had posted this so long ago and had forgotten about it! :O But I just wanted to thank you all for sharing your stories - they are all so different and interesting! :D

 

[Tasell]

When I was still in secondary school, the general conception was that Physics - like any other Science subjects - was a difficult and much feared subject. That sort of sparked my curiosity to learn more about it. Later I watched some movies where the characters had to do some simple Classical Mechanics calculations to save their lives. That was when I realized how the things I had been learning could be applied in real life. But I didn't seriously consider Physics as a major until I met a certain teacher. He wasn't a Physics teacher, but had a broad interest in everything. One of the most valuable things he did was to make me an independent thinker. We discussed about a lot of topics, one of which was on God. It was then that he introduced me to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Long story short, I read the book and decided to pursue Physics. As I got to university, I only became more and more convinced I have made the right choice! :)