“Hindsight is always 20/20 in terms of where our interest in what we do originates. But I think I can identify that point in the moon landing. I was four, but I think that was what got me thinking about space and the enormity of space. But I think it’s also important to point out that at the same time I was saying I wanted to be an astronaut I was also saying I wanted to be a ballerina. So it wasn’t as if I, as a child, really understood science is my passion.

I’d say what definitely emerged was that I love puzzles – jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, Sudoku. I see being a scientist as really fundamentally being a puzzle solver. Putting together the pieces, trying to find the evidence, trying to see the bigger picture."

, on how her interest in space was first inflamed after watching the moon landing as a child.

What first got you interested in your passion?