Hi Nathalie. We normally start with your very young years, your family at that time, if you have siblings, what your parents did, the environment you grew up in, and so forth. It will be released on September 23rd , I finally caved in. I mean the pandemic is long, so I kept busy at night writing last year. I did look up your bio and one thing I looked for was about your early life, what it was that got you interested in what became planetary geology, which you wound up getting your Ph.
It was about astronomy. Most of what we knew about the solar system was still from ground-based telescopes. So for me, my first interest was in astronomy, looking up at the stars. I knew I wanted to be part of that because, very young, I already had many questions about the universe, and not only because I found it beautiful. My questions were already more along the lines of why? Why all of this exists and the meaning of it all.
I wanted to learn everything about it. It was starting to take shape here in the U. I was a straight-A student, including in math early on, but when the curriculum changed to modern math in high school, I became a little lost. I started having difficulties in physical sciences and math and it was a really hard time in my life. My teenage years were really, really, rough. It was a heartache that I carried with me. I wanted to be an astronomer but the only subjects I could not make the grades in were those I would have needed to fulfill my dream.
I always say that the mistake I made at the time, which I think is the mistake that many youngsters make, is that I projected my future with my circumstances of that moment. I discovered that in time and when I did, it set me on my course. And, you have to give tomorrow a chance. Once I understood that everything changed for me. When you are young, you expect hope? And I was miserable as long as I felt that I was a victim of the others not understanding what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be, a victim of others not understanding what my dream was.
The day I really understood that I was on my own path, everything changed. That changed my perspective completely. Along the way, I had an unconditional supporter which was my mom. My dad had nothing against it but he felt I was going through a phase. He saw something else in me: Since my early teens, I always loved writing and I still do today. I started to write short novels and articles. I was reading a lot too.
