I don’t miss the sleepless nights, but I miss the experience of learning advanced concepts through the strange language of differential equations and operators as if I was a secret agent. The feeling of pushing my imagination, hurting my brain to grasp the complex abstract concepts... I loved it! Not a masochist, just a curious scientist, who had a bite from the tempting apple in younger ages.
I had always had a strong interest in science. Having a scientist, engineer, academic father is always a bonus. My family still tells the story of how I was teaching my uncles about gravity and electric currents when I was four. I was excited even then about the invisible world.
Then I went to school. I was schooled in the old fashioned, traditional way. The teacher stood at the front and spoke or wrote on the blackboard, the students sat in desks, organized into neat rows, and watched or listened passively. This classroom structure aligned with the essence of science, and made for a world that I could understand––well-ordered, definite, and predictable. I trusted science. Because of the machine-like approach in science there were no surprises; it all made sense which created a feeling of safety for me. To me, science was the one and only reliable agent that could never disappoint or allow room for hesitation. It was solid. It was true. This machine-like mind-set was promoted, supported, and enhanced in everyday life as well, perhaps consciously and subconsciously, since understanding the laws of nature had helped humankind to survive in the real world. The way that I saw it, science was the most useful tool to understand the world around us and I was happy to be able tap into that understanding.
I was in middle school when I first learned about photosynthesis and the chemical reaction cycle that takes place in plants. After the school, I went for a walk on my usual trail, which was lined with trees on one side and hedges on the other. However, this time the way I see the world was different. This time the lush green around me meant something new; this time I knew what the plants secretly doing. During photosynthesis the plants were using what they had—water and carbon dioxide—and turning them into sugar and oxygen; producing their own food. I could see that the soil was moist and there was sunlight. Of course, the plants were definitely photosynthesizing! Six molecules of carbon dioxide and six molecules of water blended with sunlight was enough to produce sugar and oxygen. This invisible smart world of plants was truly astonishing!
I was amazed that the plants were functioning perfectly for their own survival without human intellect, which up until that very moment I had thought the grandest of all. We humans usually tend to think we are smarter than plants and animals, and at the time I was leaning towards that kind of perspective. Not only were the plants surviving on their own, they were also producing oxygen for humans. Contrary to what I had believed, the so-called primitive plants did not seem to need us at all and there was so much more going on beyond my humanly limited perception.
As I continued walking through the lush green and reflecting on the pure genius of the common plant, at first I felt myself like a God who is aware of everything beyond the visible—the photosynthesis reaction; how the leaves extract carbon dioxide from the air and so on. I must have been a God knowing it all behind the scenes. It felt like the grandiose moment where Neo becomes the One in the movie The Matrix. Just a profound moment of perfect pure clarity, if you know what I mean... I felt like I understand everything and can master the universe by seeing beyond it.
Then I felt extremely ignorant as I realized how little I really knew about the workings of nature. There must be so much more that human beings do not know, I thought. The possibility of vast knowledge beyond what anyone can ever know made me think that perhaps the Earth was more than it looks; most probably a planet out of science fiction. In this otherworldly science fiction world, those plants were actually brilliant, smart creatures and I was just a poor human, not able to understand the miraculous laws of this awe-inspiring, amazing planet. I felt like I was suddenly like baffled Alice in a strange Wonderland.
When you learn about nature and workings of the universe, do you usually feel empowered and more, or perplexed and less?
After my Alice in Wonderland experience in middle school, I have always been curious about the things that are potentially not accessible to our humanly limited five senses. As I was walking on the trail that day, I realized that the world should not and could not be understood through our limited perceptions, there was so much more going on beyond what we were able to perceive. In my mind, this was the day that I became a true scientist in the pursuit of unveiling the works of nature. Eventually, I became a scientist because of my curiosity for the unseen world and the possibility of better understanding nature and the universe. To me, becoming a scientist was like going beyond the limitations of being a human, becoming a superhero who holds the power to tap into and possibly understand the strange phenomena of the invisible world.
What is your story learning about science or physics? Was it any fun, or total misery? Since physics is universally viewed as the most hated school subject, statistically more likely it is the latter.. What would have changed your unpleasant experience in a positive way?
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