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I fell into physics more or less by accident. I always enjoyed the subject in school but ended up taking a maths degree. While I was most interested in the applied side of maths, I was quite adamantly against being thought of as a physicist, even when I fell into a doctorate studying the magnetic fields around the Sun. It was in the maths department, so I was still a mathematician, right?

I eventually had to face the facts when my first post-doctoral position turned out to be in the physics department. I now accept it with about as much grace as can be expected of a geeky scientist.

So that was my path into the field. Others, more conventionally, do a physics degree from the very beginning. However, this forces you to learn about things like quantum and do lab work - which as all well and good if you're into that kind of thing but it's not my cup of tea. You might also get into the field via computer science, particularly if you're good at finite element analysis or other simulation-type subjects.

Learn more about this author, Colin Beveridge.
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