• Question: What advice would you give to those who don't like physics or struggle with it?

    Asked by winston123 to Martin on 25 Sep 2017.
    • Photo: Martin Pickup

      Martin Pickup answered on 25 Sep 2017:


      I did physics at school, and I sometimes enjoyed it, but sometimes found it boring or hard. I have to know some physics for my current research, but thanksfully not all the details!

      I know this isn’t super helpful, but I reckon the advice depends a lot on the person. I found that sometimes I could find interesting parts of what we were studying and connect things to that. I also concentrated on understanding the big picture, rather than the maths (which can be tricky). When I saw the big picture, I could make sense of the details much better. It also helps to remember that physics has made such a huge different to our lives: from smartphones to aeroplanes to digital photos. So even when one bit seems boring it’s all part of a pretty cool project!