Firsts
What is your first in doing your PhD? Let's celebrate! Plus, the Saturday Scholar and Music Highlight
Marie Skłodowska Curie’s thesis (photo from Nobel Prize page, LinkedIn)
What is your first in the PhD you are doing?
I was scrolling on LinkedIn the other day and I really like it lately, because I am learning a lot there. People are sharing amazing things there and there are so many pages you can learn from.
One of my favourite pages is the Nobel Prize page - they share great facts, motivate you to learn and you can get to know great scientists, how they started and their achievements.
Marie Skłodowska Curie was featured there this morning and you can see below why:
The first woman in France to get a PhD! What a spectacular achievement.
And I was thinking: there are so many firsts we go through during our PhD, small or big, but do we celebrate all of them? We should!
What are your firsts?
I started thinking about myself. I don’t celebrate them enough either.
I am first-gen as they call us; the first in my family to get a PhD, a first-generation researcher. It can be really tough because I have had to learn many things by myself, many things I have not been exposed to, many things I have not learned from people close to me. I am however not by myself in this: I would not have been able to do this without my family and friends and everyone on social media cheering me on and guiding me to resources that can help me with my studies! My parents have bought me a lot of the books I need for my PhD and I am grateful for that.
I have learned how to use tools like Praat for the first time in my life for analysing recordings. To be completely honest, when I first saw it I was terrified - haha! It looked so complicated and I thought it would be impossible to learn. However, there are so many YouTube videos by Praat specialists out there, as well as blog posts and PhD colleagues - just ask! I still have many programs and tools to learn.
I first started thinking about doing a postdoc last year after speaking with my main supervisor - I somehow always thought everything would stop with the PhD, but I want to stay in academia and work in research, so I want to keep going!
I first started using journals which you can read more about here.
So some small things and a couple of big ones for me - what are your firsts? Nothing is too small - go for it!
The Saturday Scholar
Today’s Scholar is… (drum roll)…Albert Einstein, who also had his birthday on Thursday!
Getty Images
I remember visiting the Einstein Museum in Bern, Switzerland about five years ago and it is a must if you visit! You can see amazing things in there and also some of his degrees, photos, his writings, videos, the rejection letter he got for his first PhD application, you name it!
Here is a short video of the Museum:
He actually got his PhD from the University of Zurich in 1905, where I am also studying for mine - so at the entrance, you can see his actual degree! You can read more about him here.
I like him because he was so uncomplicated and led a simple life - and offered so much to science!
Saturday’s Music Highlight
Since we are talking about firsts, I have an 80s Top Ten so I will share with you the first song on this list (and it’s not Duran Duran! Haha!). It is my absolute 80s favourite!