How I Got into Physics

When I was a kid, I wanted to serve the Church. My dream back then was to become the first Filipino pope, and be canonized as a saint. However, when I turned 9 years old, I watched the movie The Day After Tomorrow and I decided that I want to become either a climatologist -- a scientist that study long term atmospheric condition and patterns -- or a meteorologist -- a scientist that study daily atmospheric condition. The movie made realize three important things:

1.) Scientists are not the lab gowned, goggled, and chemical mixing people I used to imagine as a younger kid
2.) Scientists are just as human as everyone else
3.) Climate change is a very urgent issue.

The third realization, and my fascination for science that I developed because of the books my parents used to give me as Christmas gifts made me aspire to become a scientist!

Some of the books I used to read as a kid

However, I did not like physics back then. My grades in mathematics and physics were consistently bad as a high school student. So, I wanted to take either BS Biology or BS Chemistry in college. I wanted to study biology because I thought it would equip me with necessary knowledge about ecosystems, which are strongly affected by climate change; and chemistry because I thought that the chemical properties of the atmosphere are more important than the physical ones. My high school teacher advised otherwise. He told me that physics is better.

Naively, I took my teacher's advise and took physics in college. I browsed through university websites and searched about the majors their curricula had to offer. Later on, I decided that I would take BS Applied Physics because my main goal is not to become a physicist but to be an atmospheric scientist. I studied hard for the entrance test of University of the Philippines and I was admitted in the applied physics program of its Los Baños campus.

While in the university, I slowly changed after being introduced to more mathematics and physics. I gradually grasped mathematics and eventually developed interest in astrophysics. I also became a hardcore fan of Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman when I learned about their contributions in physics. As a matter of fact, I attended two talks on the centennial anniversary of the Theory of General Relativity.

Music of the Spheres talk by Dr. Ian Vega of University of the Philippines - Diliman

The university helped me see physics differently. I thought, as a high school student, that physics was just mere memorizing the formula and substituting the given values with a little algebraic manipulation on the equations. However, that was not really the case. Physics, and all sciences, is a careful method of studying the universe. It was not about what to think, it was about how to think; it was not about what was right, but how we know if something is wrong. Ultimately, these realizations made physics more interesting and studying physics liberating.

Right now, I plan to pursue a career in theoretical physics and focus on gravitational physics, nonconservative field theories, and mathematical physics. I also aspire to be a good science communicator like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. However, I am currently still an undergraduate; so I'll keep it low and work hard!

In short: I got into physics because of my teacher's advise, and stayed because of my realizations as an undergraduate.