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Simon
Singh
Episode 1 - The Early
Years |
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My family have been farmers
for generations in Punjab, India.
In 1938, my
grandfather left his village of Thakarki and settled
in Somerset in the southwest of England, and in 1950
my
parents emigrated to Taunton. A few years later
they moved
to Wellington, and that is where I was
born. |
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Although I did not know it at the
time, Somerset is a fertile ground for budding scientists.
Just 5 miles from where I was born is the town of Milverton,
the birthplace of Thomas Young, the polymath who made
breakthroughs in a wide range of subjects. Most important of
all, he advocated the wave theory of light. He studied at
Emmanuel College Cambridge, and in due I course I attended the
same college, but I failed to make any significant
contributions to the foundations of physics. |
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My mum stressing the importance of
education to me. |
My mum always emphasised the
importance of education, my dad got me
interested in how things work and my big
sister
made sure I did my homework. It
was
not long before I was doing well at St
John's
Primary School
and at the age of nine
I declared that I wanted to
be a nuclear
physicist. Bizarrely, I actually
remember
this moment with clarity.
It was around this time that
I became
captivated by the re-release of
Monster
Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
& The Crypt
Kickers. I was also an avid fan
of Mud, The
Sweet and Suzi Quatro. My other interest
was
football, and cousins in Derby
persuaded me
that I should become a
Rams fan - Somerset
is not famous for its
football heritage, so
following Derby
seemed to make
sense. |
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Although I considered being a glam
rocker and a footballer, I stuck to my scientific ambitions,
largely inspired by TV boffins. I have always loved watching
TV, and the early 1970s was great for scientists on the box.
This was post-Apollo era, so Patrick Moore and James
Burke had become prime time TV stars. Alongside them, Carl
Sagan, Magnus Pyke and Heinz Wolff became my role
models.
I think that it is great to have
some idea of what you want to do with your life. I was lucky
that I realised that my future lay in science, so I knew where
to concentrate my efforts. I studied A levels in mathematics,
physics and chemistry, and thanks to my great teachers I
managed to get the grades I needed to study physics at
Imperial College, part of the University of London. I had
originally applied to Cambridge University, but they rejected
me. In hindsight, it was probably one of the best things that
ever happened to me.
Part Two - The
College
Years |
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