Like History Repeating Itself

I was talking to my son last night and asked him, what would you be when you graduate later, yang?

He: Uhh.. uhm.. err.. A geophysicist! (He declared enthusiastically - after some quick thinking on his part, if I may add..)

Suddenly I felt almost like a fish out of water - maybe like what my mum must have felt when I told her I was taking up computer science all those years ago. Maybe she thought I'd be a scientist with my white lab coat flapping around me - what the heck, I thought I was going to be a scientist with the white coat flapping about me! (Talk about being misguided..)

Anyway.

Me : But what would you do exactly? (I know what is geology. And I know what is physics; well, at least I know enough to know that I dont like it..)

He : Uhh.. uhm.. err.. (here we go again and I know what that meant) I'm going to look at rocks and study them.

Me : ok.. (pause. And thinking hard how geology and physics could co-relate) What are you learning now?

He : I look at rocks.

Me : Oh.. (bigger pause) Is that all?

He : That's it for now.

Me : Belajar rajin-rajin, tau?

I went to my friendly Wikipedia and it says:
Geophysics, a branch of earth sciences, is the study of the earth by quantitative physical methods, especially by seismic, electromagnetic and radioactivity methods. The theories and techniques of geophysics are employed extensively in the planery sciences in general.

The field of geophysics includes the branches of:
- seismology (earthquakes and elastic waves)
- gravity and geodesy (the Earth's gravitational field and the size and form of the Earth)
- atmospheric science
- meteorology and climatology
- geomagnetism (study of the earth's magnetic field)
- geothermometry (heating of the Earth, heat flow, volcanology and hot springs)
- hydrology
- physical oceanography
- petrophysics
And etc etc.

Unfortunately, my mum never had Wikipedia at her fingertips all those twenty-something years ago.

*****