Current role models:
Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell
I've met her a few times and had the privilege to work with her a few times. She is just so relaxed, she doesn't blow her own trumpet; she is brilliant. She's aware that she is very good, but she takes it in her stride. I think that's fantastic.
She has an inner calm; she's quite different from me, I'm quite manic! I've seen her give talks; my talks are sort of loud, and her talks are very measured. I appreciate that style and admire it.
Marie Curie
I think that any person who can win 2 Nobel Peace Prizes during that time is incredible. She was quite passionate; she fell in love with people. It's funny, because it brought her to life. I think she had 2 or 3 children and to raise them whilst making machines to take out to war zones, along with everything else, is just amazing. An amazing life. At the same time I think she suffered from depression, so she was a real person.
That's one of my problems with role models, sometimes you just see the glory, but you don't relate to the real person behind it. I think it's the real person makes a real role model.
What role did your father play in supporting you in your choices in life?
My father loved science, and that's what really made science come alive for me. I wasn't very good at school, in fact I hated school, but we studied together. He would say, "Oh no, we didn't do it that way, let's get a book from the library". It was more like a partnership; not just a father teaching a daughter, but we were discovering together, it was more enjoyable. I came up with the words for his tombstone:
"'Father, brother, teacher, philosopher, friend" - that sums him up.
British or Nigerian? You have both heritages
As I mentioned before, I grew up in a very white society and this in itself was very lonely. Kids are interesting, they pick on anything. The sort of isolation I felt could have been directed at any number of things; it could be having ginger hair, being fat or thin, whatever makes you different. Being in a school with very few black kids, it was bound to be what they picked on. I preferred to say I was Nigerian; if I said I was British they'd say, "No you're not. You can't be, you're black."
The problem is I've never even been to Nigeria! Sometimes I would meet Nigerians and they'd speak to me in Yoruba, which I didn't understand. I was a lost Nigerian. I felt I didn't fit in anywhere. Which is why space was so appealing; I didn't need to fit in anywhere. In space, race disappears.
Luck or Opportunity?
I think you make your own luck to a certain extent. Being open to things creates opportunities.
It really is a state of mind, that's what I love to tell the kids. So many opportunities come along, "I don't know about this, but I'm going to give it a go." I don't think you should risk everything to do it, but you should risk a certain amount. Try things. I like to give kids the confidence because they can do so much more than they realize.
I wish I'd realized that when I was younger, because I was scared of everything. I'm glad I grew into it.
Women especially need to have self-confidence because we are self-deprecating. It's instilled into you. So it's nice to try and break that barrier, say "Yes I can."
Your ultimate thing you've wanted to achieve?
To go into Space. My ultimate dream, both as a Scientist and as an individual, is to go and live on Mars, hopefully to return, but to retire to
Mars. For me it's the ultimate dream because you'd go to a brand new planet, and investigate; discover amazing things. I love planet Earth, I think planet Earth is an amazing place, but there are other amazing places out there, and I'd like to get out and see them.
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Julia Gillard