“A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”
From my earliest childhood I have been fascinated by science in all its forms. My initial career aspiration (at the age of five or so) was to be an inventor. I wanted to play with genes and bend the laws of nature to create novel animals, genetic modification as I later learned to call it. In fact, I excelled in biology in my secondary school and my teacher continuously tried to convince me that biology was the field for me. I even briefly flirted with the notion of getting a PhD in Biology (specifically Immunology) for a brief period in my youth. But alas I had another intellectual mistress which, despite any natural inclination towards the biological sciences I may have had, grasped hold of me and from whose deep questions I could not wrest my mind. Physics. The word is almost magical to me. The questions about the Universe which still remain unanswered (and there are so many) as well as the apprehension of how things work has enraptured me since I was originally exposed to the subject.
I was in early high school when a friend lent me a book which helped define my future goals. Up until this point my family had encouraged me to investigate the various science fields and see if any of them fit. In middle school there were posters of different science professions arranged on the walls of my classroom and I remember seeing pictures for Chemists, Biologists, Astronomers, Engineers, etc. None of these seemed to appeal to me or my sense of curiosity. So back to the book. The book was The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh. As is evidenced by the title, the last section of the book had a brief description of quantum phenomena. Some very strange, almost unbelievable, topics were written about and I was forever set on the quest to understand these things. Quantum Tunneling, Wave-Particle Duality, and Teleportation were just a few of the subjects which enthralled me and excited my passion. After that I read several popular books on modern physics and focused on my Mathematics so that I could hopefully be one of those superstars of science who studied phenomena such as these, a Physicist.
I have always had a natural affinity towards Mathematics. However, one of my mistakes in college was not memorizing the basic principles of Mathematics (and Physics) in my introductory classes. I could do the work and pass the tests but I never realized the power of memorization until it was too late. I was in my junior year physics classes and I found myself overwhelmed by my subjects. My problem was that, due to my feeble grasp on the basics of the two subjects, I was unable to keep up with the quick pace of the classes. I struggled through the next two years and came out with mediocre grades in my important courses. I also never spent time working out the problems. Without this essential practice my skills were never sharpened and I was not as successful as I wish I had been. So then at the end of my BS in Physics, after I had completed all of my courses, some life events happened which concluded with me taking a year off. Now, while it is true that I could have just applied for graduation and moved on, I never did, which turned out to be a beneficial decision. Due to my relatively low GPA I was going to be unable to get into a decent graduate school. But now I have enrolled back in school and am finishing a minor in Mathematics which will raise my GPA and hopefully allow me to get into a graduate program for Mathematics.
My wife and I, after having spent a year experiencing the difficulties of the real world, have set our hearts on much grander dreams than we ever previously thought possible. My wife plans to complete a BS degree then enroll in Medical School. I am currently completing my BS degree at Clemson University while picking up a strong minor in Mathematics. I plan on obtaining an MS degree and PhD in Mathematics first and subsequently an MS degree and PhD in Physics. Cassandra and I both have one final degree we each wish to earn in our lifetimes. At the University of Cambridge you have the opportunity (after obtaining your doctoral degree) to present a least a decade's worth of work and earn a higher doctorate. The higher doctorate I wish to earn is the Doctor of Science (DSc) degree and the higher doctorate Cassandra wishes to earn is the Medical Doctor of Science (MedDSc) degree. At least the next decade of our lives will be dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in our respective fields. This is a huge commitment to learning but we are both solidified in our hopes and dreams for the future. Living life for a year without knowledge and expertise has taught us the value of a strong education. I want to look back at my twenties and early thirties and say that I used the time wisely to achieve something magnificent, a level of education uncommon among even the most highly educated. I want the door of my future office to read...
Matthew David Hendrix, Ph.D. Mathematics, Ph.D. Physics, D.Sc. University of Cambridge
“Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are.”
― H.G. Wells
From my earliest childhood I have been fascinated by science in all its forms. My initial career aspiration (at the age of five or so) was to be an inventor. I wanted to play with genes and bend the laws of nature to create novel animals, genetic modification as I later learned to call it. In fact, I excelled in biology in my secondary school and my teacher continuously tried to convince me that biology was the field for me. I even briefly flirted with the notion of getting a PhD in Biology (specifically Immunology) for a brief period in my youth. But alas I had another intellectual mistress which, despite any natural inclination towards the biological sciences I may have had, grasped hold of me and from whose deep questions I could not wrest my mind. Physics. The word is almost magical to me. The questions about the Universe which still remain unanswered (and there are so many) as well as the apprehension of how things work has enraptured me since I was originally exposed to the subject.
I was in early high school when a friend lent me a book which helped define my future goals. Up until this point my family had encouraged me to investigate the various science fields and see if any of them fit. In middle school there were posters of different science professions arranged on the walls of my classroom and I remember seeing pictures for Chemists, Biologists, Astronomers, Engineers, etc. None of these seemed to appeal to me or my sense of curiosity. So back to the book. The book was The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh. As is evidenced by the title, the last section of the book had a brief description of quantum phenomena. Some very strange, almost unbelievable, topics were written about and I was forever set on the quest to understand these things. Quantum Tunneling, Wave-Particle Duality, and Teleportation were just a few of the subjects which enthralled me and excited my passion. After that I read several popular books on modern physics and focused on my Mathematics so that I could hopefully be one of those superstars of science who studied phenomena such as these, a Physicist.
I have always had a natural affinity towards Mathematics. However, one of my mistakes in college was not memorizing the basic principles of Mathematics (and Physics) in my introductory classes. I could do the work and pass the tests but I never realized the power of memorization until it was too late. I was in my junior year physics classes and I found myself overwhelmed by my subjects. My problem was that, due to my feeble grasp on the basics of the two subjects, I was unable to keep up with the quick pace of the classes. I struggled through the next two years and came out with mediocre grades in my important courses. I also never spent time working out the problems. Without this essential practice my skills were never sharpened and I was not as successful as I wish I had been. So then at the end of my BS in Physics, after I had completed all of my courses, some life events happened which concluded with me taking a year off. Now, while it is true that I could have just applied for graduation and moved on, I never did, which turned out to be a beneficial decision. Due to my relatively low GPA I was going to be unable to get into a decent graduate school. But now I have enrolled back in school and am finishing a minor in Mathematics which will raise my GPA and hopefully allow me to get into a graduate program for Mathematics.
My wife and I, after having spent a year experiencing the difficulties of the real world, have set our hearts on much grander dreams than we ever previously thought possible. My wife plans to complete a BS degree then enroll in Medical School. I am currently completing my BS degree at Clemson University while picking up a strong minor in Mathematics. I plan on obtaining an MS degree and PhD in Mathematics first and subsequently an MS degree and PhD in Physics. Cassandra and I both have one final degree we each wish to earn in our lifetimes. At the University of Cambridge you have the opportunity (after obtaining your doctoral degree) to present a least a decade's worth of work and earn a higher doctorate. The higher doctorate I wish to earn is the Doctor of Science (DSc) degree and the higher doctorate Cassandra wishes to earn is the Medical Doctor of Science (MedDSc) degree. At least the next decade of our lives will be dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in our respective fields. This is a huge commitment to learning but we are both solidified in our hopes and dreams for the future. Living life for a year without knowledge and expertise has taught us the value of a strong education. I want to look back at my twenties and early thirties and say that I used the time wisely to achieve something magnificent, a level of education uncommon among even the most highly educated. I want the door of my future office to read...
Matthew David Hendrix, Ph.D. Mathematics, Ph.D. Physics, D.Sc. University of Cambridge
“Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are.”
― H.G. Wells
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