Daniel Pajer

As a student at the Jan Kepler Grammar School in Prague I was fortunate enough to experience a relatively liberal approach to education, which allowed me to devote more time to the things I was really interested in. At the same time, if I had not been surrounded every day by the excellent people I had the honour to meet there, my life would definitely have taken a different path.

At the start of upper sixth form, I became interested in physics entirely by chance, after swapping a drama seminar for a physics seminar at the last minute. Shortly afterwards, a friend and I attempted in our free time to tackle some interesting questions from a physics correspondence seminar of the type: “What would happen if I accidentally dropped a miniature black hole on the surface of the Earth?”. Physics gradually became an addiction; I began taking part in all kinds of science competitions, which finally culminated in me going to the International Physics Olympiad in Indonesia, where I won a bronze medal.

It was at the Olympiad that I realised I would like to continue my studies in the future at one of the world’s leading universities and thus to gain experience of working in an international team. I would therefore like to end by thanking The Kellner Family Foundation for the great warmth it has shown in assisting me on my path to knowledge.

Secondary school:

Gymnázium Jana Keplera, Prague 6, completed 2017

University:

Imperial College London, UK, four-year course in Physics (MSc), since 2017

email:

daniel.pajer17@imperial.ac.uk

Goals

To become sufficiently educated in a specific area so that other people have reason to listen to my views, and at the same time to hold on to my desire to be learning new things all the time and hearing what other people have to say.

Interests

Even though the demanding nature of my studies means that I have less and less free time every year, I also try to educate myself in fields other than just science. I enjoy attending all kinds of lectures and exhibitions and gaining knowledge that I should have acquired years ago in secondary school. I am rediscovering the beauties of analogue photography and the magic of the darkroom, where I am also active as the vice-chairman of the university’s photography club. Recently I have also been following with concern the changing moods in society, for example over the Brexit issue.