Erik Elfwing, student ambassador for Fysikum's social media

How did you become interested in physics?

Erik is 23 years old and grew up in Tyresö, where he now lives with his partner.
“A big reason for getting into science was that my mother is a marine biologist at SU. In fact, I had imagined that I would follow in her footsteps after my foundation year, unaware of the appeal of physics (pun intended)."

Erik is in his third year of a bachelor’s programme in physics with a specialisation in physics.
"In secondary school, I studied economics, but then decided to switch to natural sciences to see if anything else appealed to me more. That's when I stumbled upon SU's natural sciences foundation year. After an intense but incredibly fun year, it was physics that caught my attention. I then decided to go straight into the bachelor's programme the following autumn."

What are your plans for the future after your studies?

Erik does not have any specific goals or plans for his studies and what he will do afterwards.

"I am taking one step at a time and focusing on continuing to learn about how the world works. I enjoy the fact that the programme is challenging and interesting, and I believe that I will find the right path if I continue to follow that feeling. Considering that the bachelor's programme is coming to an end, I have started to think about it and I definitely want to continue studying, but I am having a hard time choosing which master's programme would suit me best. I simply hope that this last year will make it clearer what I want to delve deeper into."

No natural talent is required to study physics

Considering that he did not study science in secondary school and also had great difficulty with mathematics, sometimes even to the point of failing, he wants to show that you do not need to be a natural genius to study physics.

"All it takes is interest, curiosity and hard work. Unfortunately, it is a common perception that you need to have an innate talent and aptitude for mathematics, for example, to be able to study physics. Many people simply doubt their own abilities and take it for granted that they are not cut out to be physicists. I used to think that myself and I hear it often. So I want to be an example that everything is a skill you can learn, that anyone can develop, not something you are born with. You just have to be willing to make an effort and put in the time. It's not always easy, but it's far from impossible! I like to think that people like Einstein weren't necessarily smarter or more talented than the rest of us, he just put in a lot more time and perseverance to understand the world and the language that describes it."

A fitting quote from an influential physicist and educator

"You ask me if an ordinary person could imagine these things by studying hard. Of course. I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people. It just so happens that they became interested and learned all this. They are just people. There is no talent or special miraculous ability to understand quantum mechanics or a miraculous ability to imagine electromagnetic fields that comes without practice, reading, learning and studying. So if you take an ordinary person who is willing to devote a lot of time to study, work, thinking and mathematics, then he or she becomes a scientist."

Translated statement by Richard P. Feynman.

Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in quantum mechanics' path integral formulation, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics behind superfluidity in supercooled liquid helium, and in particle physics, where he proposed the parton model.

More information

Foundation Year in Natural Sciences, Stockholm University

Bachelor's Programme in Physics, Fysikum, Stockholm University