Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States
I grew up in a poor, large family in Missouri. Neither of my parents went to university. I spent a lot of time in nature, examining the world around me, and I found myself constantly asking questions like: Why is this the way it is? How does this work? It made me innately curious about the world around me. As I progressed through my education, that curiosity naturally directed me toward the fundamental sciences. I was fortunate to have a few very good science teachers who put me on a good path, and little by little I found myself here. Physics really tries to boil things down to their fundamental essence, and says, ‘What’s at the core of this?’ I was very attracted to that approach to science. The thing I like most about working on DUNE is the challenge it poses. This is a very difficult experiment. As a physicist you’re naturally attracted to asking and answering questions that have not been achieved before.