Sunday, June 25, 2023
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This week was not quite as high octance as the past weeks, although still exciting. We all had off on monday for Juneteenth which was refreshing. That night we even had an Italian themed potluck! Everything was absolutely deliclious, and I really hope we do another soon. My work in the lab this week was not too intensive this week either. We suffered a slight setback in our latest experiment, so we had to restart it on Tuesday. Even after finishing our second experiment later in the week, our results were not what we had been hoping for this time. On a more exciting front, I got to use a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the first time! It seriously still blows my mind that we can zoom down to the level of a few nanometers, which is on the scale of the separation of atoms in some materials! Actually using the SEM was a little more tricky. At such a small scale, you really have to take your time zooming in and out to contiously check where you are on the sample or to see what you're even looking at. After a few hours of analysis we noticed a few irregularities on our sample's surface which may be the cause of our strange results.
We wrapped up the week with the start of a new experiment which we'll see the results of next week. In case you've forgotten, the experiments I am doing with my mentor usually take between 40-70 hours to fully hydrogenate. Also, I finished up the first draft of my paper on the subject! I'll let you know what the feedback is next blog!
The high points of the week were the luncheon with John Mather and Astronomy (kind of) on the Mall. On thursday, we all got to sit down for lunch at ACP with Nobel Prize winner John Mather. Cosmology and Astronomy are not exactly my forte, but listening to him talk about science was a spectacle. It was really inspiring how much he was also interested in learning about us and hearing about our experiences. It's strange to wonder things like "Am I capable of standing where he stands? Am I able to do the things he can?" when you meet someone that well-known and respected. They're difficult questions to come to terms with, but also motivating in a way. It's hard to picture myself as a scientist sometimes. Plenty of kids say they want to be a "scientist" when they grow up, but what does that really entail? I often feel like I'm not smart enough for that role or that I'll never have the opportunity. There's always someone smarter or more qualified than you. Someone who seems to out perform your greatest accomplishments. Achieving anything in the face of that seems insurmountable. Although, if you had asked me five years ago if I thought I would be where I am now, or if I would have been strong enough to take on such endeavors, I would have told you its just a fantasy. Maybe dreams do come true.
Astronomy on the Mall was also really fun (and exhausting). Huge thanks to the SOCK intern Emily who spearheaded a lot of what we did that night. The night was a great reminder of how foreign and interesting physics is to some people. It's easy to take something for granted or for it to lose its luster when you study it for 3 years. I hope I never fully lose sight of why I want to be in the position I am.
Colin Myers