Thread: What got you interested in Science or the particular field of science you research, teach or study?

I've only just joined this forum and would like to get to know some people and the reasons they are drawn to science, It really saddens me when people are just not interested in science and this is really the main reason i have decided to join a forum, I read books, research the internet and just find so many fascinating things in every field of science but the people around me are just not interested...BUT WHY? . I have a huge passion for a range of sciences, particularly weird ones, Althought my mathematic ability is very small i try to understand the concepts of quantum mechanics because the outcomes are just so "weird" but i look at it as if we were fish living in the deepest depths of the ocean, what we would see as the norm would no longer be the norm if we traveled several thousands meters upwards, We evolved to recognise our surroundings the quantum level of things are not recognisable to us and when things are recognisable they become weird. Weirdness is of course not the only thing that draws me to this area of science as an interest but it's the fact it can be tested and experiment agrees with predictions, if i wanted JUST weirdness i would stick to some holy books or ancient myths.

Anyway before i ramble about everything that draws me to science i would love to read your rambles, possibly; the point in your childhood you first became interested, when and how did you know the specific science you chose to study/want to study and any other interesting points!

Thank-you very much, hope my first post wasn't totally incoherent (I can't be bothered to re-read it) and boring

I can't ID a specific point where I got interested.

I do have some early memories though from my childhood though. A "Hurricane" when I was seven or eight. I remember my dad being worried about the water backing up from the salt marsh behind our house. I remember how warm and moist the air felt--something unusual for Maine and my mom holding my hand tight as we walked outside and strong gust buffeted us. Looking at reports it was most like tropical storm Doria which went through when I was seven, produced 60+ mph winds in Southern Maine.

My dad was a commercial fishermen, lobstering during the summer and gill netting off shore during the winter. He's often take me down to a breakwater, and survey the ocean before deciding whether to go out for the day. In a few minutes he'd look at the waves, wind and sky and make a prediction for the next 12 hours. That translated into a fascination for the ocean, weather and natural sciences that still carry me to this day.

I learned English as a second language while very young. (and since largely lost my French) My mom, attempting to embed my sister and I in English, purchased Harvard collection series of books and read many of its books about the sea. When I was about ten or eleven I struggled to read Darwin's journals "Voyage of the Beagle," for the first time. There's still a large box in my mom's attic with hundreds of sketches and notes from my own observations--they range from a drawing of a vertibrea my sister and I found on the marsh (which my sister still has) to detailed plots of direction and distance of lightning strikes.

Sadly I do not think a passion for science can be taught.
I remember the 'Eureka' moment for me. I was 12 years old, and was reading a popular magazine. It described atoms and how tiny they were. I was hit between the eyes by amazement.

I was raised in a country district, and went to a tiny country school where science was not taught. When I had my eureka moment, I felt enormous resentment about that. I wanted to know everything, all at once. I was like a starving man facing a feast spread out before me, just wanting to consume mightily.

I am still hungry to this day.