Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.
Aspiring Scientist
Seeing the Universe 10 Billion Years Ago
Yuka Yamada (Department of Physics, 2nd Year Master's Student)
Birthplace : Aichi, Japan
Alma Mater : Minamiyama High School for Girls
Faculty : Department of Physics, School of Science, The University of Tokyo
Q. What were you interested in when you were in junior high school ?
A. Debate
When I was in junior high and high school, I was a member of the debate club and was very passionate about club activities. I was very happy when we could make a strong argument as a team, so I think I still like to debate with others and make something up.
Q. What is your motto?
A. Regret doing rather than regretting not doing.
In my life experience, it is more fun to do anything once the thought of doing it has crossed my mind. I am a timid person by nature, so I consciously try to take on new challenges.
Q. What do you like about the Faculty of Science at the University of Tokyo?
A. The active independent seminars
allow students to learn various things with their peers and broaden their interests while they are still undergraduates. It is fun to discuss things you don't understand with other students.
Q. What do you enjoy about research and study?
A. The connection of research contents from unexpected places.
When I exchange opinions with researchers in other fields, I often find that contents that seem to be completely unrelated at first glance are actually connected to my own research contents or give me some hints. When I notice this connection, I feel better.
Q. If you were to do research different from what you are doing now, what kind of research would you be interested in?
A. Research on the evolution of organisms.
I have always been interested in the origin of organisms, partly because I was a member of the Biophysics group at the May Festival Physics lab, where I learned about the evolution of cells.
Q. What are your hobbies?
A. Real Escape Game
I like the feeling of being immersed in the world. It is a game that gives me a sense of pleasure that can only be obtained by turning my head as hard as I can within a time limit. I like to play alone, but I also like to play with a team of friends.
Q. Do you think you are lucky ?
A. I think I am extremely lucky, especially in terms of interpersonal relationships.
I have always been surrounded by kind and nice people, people who inspire me. My family also tells me this, so I think it is probably true objectively.
Q. Do you think there are aliens?
A. I don't think there are, at least not at the moment, but it would be interesting if there were.
The span between the birth of a species and its extinction is so short that I think it would be difficult for an organism with an advanced civilization to exist at the same time. However, if they existed, I would like to build telescopes at each other's sites and observe the universe from different perspectives.
Q. What is your dream for the future?
A. I would like to continue my research on the universe.
I would like to build a telescope based on my observation proposal someday and see the universe that I have not been able to see before. I would like to continue my space research at least until I can achieve this goal.
Q. What do you do on your days off?
A. I am working on a game with a friend.
A friend of mine who is studying at an art college invited me to work as a programmer on an RPG game. The worldview of the game that my friend came up with is very nice, and I am happy to be a part of the team.
Here are some notes from a seminar I recently attended. Whenever I listen to a lecture, I always try to take notes so that I don't lose my understanding in the middle of the lecture.
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