Who to blame after my first quarter century on planet Earth?

Or: Three role models that influenced my educational decisions most significantly

Now that I have turned 25 years old — and calling it my first quarter century on this planet makes it sound like an important milestone — I took the time to reflect on what has happened so far. My resume would be that I have now learned to walk up-right in a physical as well as in a metaphorical sense. I can be rather content with the education I enjoyed as I believe that this will be the most valuable insurance for “surviving” the rough seas we expect for the upcoming decades.

Admittedly, role models have always played a key part in my decision taking as they often represented antagonists to conventional “careers”. Naturally, one’s personal development is strongly impacted by the context of family and society — even more so when we are young and have not learned how to think without a banister as Hannah Arendt put it. In fact, I would back this statement by the observation that I had very few, seemingly “unreachable” role models when I was younger to whom I could look up to and who I would try to fully emulate, whereas today I have lots of people who I can identify with and who I draw case-specific inspiration from without the will to copy them in every aspect. I tend to think that this is also a direct consequence of a sharpening process in one’s own value system. Which personal constants have crystallised that appear worth holding onto irrespective of what others do, say or think? And what aspects are still subject to change?

However, the trendsetting turns that I took during my education can be tracked down to three people who I could “blame” for what I am today.

Marie Curie

In my early school days, I was in deep admiration for Marie Curie. The two times Nobel prize winner for physics and chemistry was simply the only women in science I knew of. At that time, I had generally nothing in common with a woman who was born some 130 years earlier, had fought hard for her career and reputation and later paid the prize of radiation-caused deceases for her research on radioactivity. In primary school we did not even have subjects like physics or chemistry. But she was the reason that I eagerly pursued maths and later learned the periodic table by heart. I developed a habit of asking my fellow students to name a number between 1 and 118 to which I could respond with the according element name. A game, no-one else ever seemed to find joy in… In full ignorance of social traditions, I trusted that her achievements were the ultimate proof that a scientific career for a woman would be worthwhile (I considered having an element named after me would be the highest goal) and easily feasible. This set me up for the rest of my school days where I consistently focussed my efforts on subjects like maths, physics, chemistry, informatics and astronomy.

Adrian Newey

Towards the secondary-school examinations (German A-levels, called “Abitur”) I somehow caught a bug on motorsports engineering. This mainly originated in the realisation of how technically advanced and engineering-driven the sport was. Formula One represents a simulation-game-like, well-regulated world where the aims of political acting, technological development and business strategy get distilled down to the simple quest for being the best. On Sundays, the ten competing teams would go to war and fight for dominance on the racetrack. More performance, quicker laps! In all my recklessness, I very quickly got fascinated by the dynamics of devotion and intransigence that led to success and race wins. I got the impression that the actual power did not lay in the hands of the drivers, but with the engineers who designed the racing cars. One personality stood out to me: Adrian Newey was at the time celebrated as the master mind of the Red Bull racing team who ruled the fine art of manual technical drawings. I had no clue about 3-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) back then and did not judge his ability as one of a dying kind. Instead, I saw an opportunity to combine my technical and artistic skills. Adrian Newey is an Aerospace Engineer by education and consequently made me choose that very same university programme with the single goal in mind of getting into F1.

Two years into my bachelor’s degree that dream came true. I got a job as an Industrial Placement with the UK-based Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and spend a year working within the Aerodynamics Department. I had the best possible time there, but when I returned home, I could not bear the thought of having ticked the box already. I was 22 years by then and presumably almost 60 years to go. Surely, it has been nowhere near a solid career, but I felt like I had already seen most of it and returning could quickly result in saturation. In a gradual and painful way I realised that I needed to move on and find new passions and goals in life.

Samantha Cristoforetti

As I picked up my master’s studies, I allowed myself to dive into new, unknown fields where I saw potential for me to learn and improve. Amongst other trials, I naively participated in ESA’s Space Dream competition… and won it! I then got invited to the European Astronauts Centre (EAC) in Cologne, where I gained insights on the most exciting technological research and development, training facilities etc., but most importantly I had the chance to meet one of my absolute heroes: The Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. I have always had this vague childhood dream of becoming an astronaut (Who did not dream of this?) but meeting one in person felt very special. Space travellers appear to carry the best of all combinations between intellectual, mental and physical fitness; resilience, will and humour; courage and curiosity; leader- and fellowship. As a consequence of that encounter the next months passed with an unbreakable spring in my step as I was bursting in enthusiasm. Today, I have managed to channel this general excitement into dedicated courses on space technology that I took at university and I cannot wait to watch the New Space movement come alive in Europe.

Finally, I do not dare to say that this will be the end of the goal post. I rather wish it will not! My point that I want to get across by writing a personal article like this is, that I seem to draw most inspiration from personalities who are extraordinary and passionate in what they do. No sober school lessons or university lectures can ever bring this kind of emotional connection to life. That is why we need role models that succeed in spreading the enthusiasm for their respective fields. I personally regard this as a premise for young people to get inspired and open up their minds for new possibilities. Our fact-based education system can only function if it can build upon an intrinsic motivation. Otherwise pupils and students will experience education as a meaningless matter of torture which they have to passively endure, instead of seeing knowledge as a potential to actively shape their lives in a self-determined way by pursuing own ambitions and future goals.