An Interview With Sonal Thorve
- Vanshika Dhyani
- Aug 18, 2020
- 3 min read
Sonal is an astronomer, who is professionally into science education; and is a poet, writer, a science communicator.
“Most of the people I knew were against me getting into pure sciences, specially Physics as they had a notion that Physics is not a good option as a career choice in the world dominated by IT, engineering and medical sciences. However, I was determined to do Physics. One of the teachers of Statistics department at the college, when asked by a student “What is the future scope in this field?”, replied, “Sometimes you have to create a scope in the field you love by giving it your best. May be some students from future generations will get inspired from you to pursue the field”. I never forgot those lines said by her. That was the thing I kept reminding myself whenever I used to hear that there is no scope for Physics and profession of science communication in our country.”
What inspires you?
Stars and other celestial bodies in the sky inspire me to explore the universe. Young minds with curious questions and their lit faces after gaining something valuable inspire me to teach. And natural phenomena or events occurring around us in our day-to-day lives inspire me to learn more about science behind those.
What did you want to be when you were younger?
Astrophysicist.
Which subjects did you enjoy at school?
Mathematics and languages (Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit and English).
What would you like to tell your younger self?
If you love any subject and are dreaming to get your career set into the same, never stop working towards it. You will get to reach the true calling of yours one day if you keep moving towards the goal with passion, patience and perseverance.
Why did you choose STEM?
STEM form a highway towards understanding the fundamentals of almost everything around and to help improve for the betterment of humankind.
How important is it for you to stand out?
It holds a highest importance to me to stand out when you know what is good and what is not in a long term.
What difficulties did you face in the industry, as a woman?
When I started doing astronomy, there were a very few girls in our group. Astronomy is a subject where you have to spend nights for observations of celestial bodies and events. And, people around were never comfortable knowing that this girl is spending nights outside home most of the year, with a group dominanted mostly by males. In the beginning years, being a girl, in a large group of boys, most of the times I had to ask that I too want to handle the mechanical or technical stuff, teach me how to do it, and I will. However, as time passed, the situation got better with a support from family, friends and colleagues.
What advice would you give to the next generation of female scientists?
If you love science and are willing to be a scientist, think scientifically before believing blindly anything you hear, see or read. Science is a fun subject. No one has a right to tell you that science is not for women. Pursue your dreams with dedicatio
I had started my journey as an astronomy communicator right after I passed my 12th grade, since 2004. I got to know about a group formed by some astronomy enthusiasts — Khagol Vishwa, and eventually became an active part of it. We used to go to schools teaching astronomy to students. We also used to conduct overnight sky-watching programmes. Almost all of us were graduation students, sharing the same interest — astronomy. This made me realise that I love communicating science with people; it may be via writing or speaking or by creating some interactive visuals using very basic knowledge of MS Office. This made me start teaching Physics online after completing my B.Sc. In this job, I learnt some if the effective techniques of teaching. Following this, I worked with an ITES to develop Physics content for Physics for higher secondary school. And, eventually I got an opportunity to work as a part of the science outreach team of one of the reknowned institutes, where I work for astronomy and school outreach.
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