Introduction

Dear readers,

This is my first proper blog entry, yet it is not my first article. I have previously published some scientific articles (peer reviewed as well as popular science) and other smaller pieces, but I have never had a continous record in a form of a diary or a blog. I have thus decided to finally start this blog as there were many things I felt like I could share and might be of an interest to the public audience. I was born in the Czech Republic, but I have lived in the UK and US for past 10 years. My background is mostly in science and education. I enjoy nature, hiking, outdoors activities and general traveling. My articles will therefore touch subjects close to my heart such as science (popular science), education (advisory articles to students as well as personal reflections), life in the Czech Republic, United Kingdom and the United States, and other travels. I will be writing articles in both English and Czech.

So, why the title "Per Aspera Ad Astra"? Well,  I guess like for many others this old Latin saying, loosely translated as "through hardship to the stars", it has become a bit of my life motto. The same expression is sitting on the memorial lifted for the crew of Apollo 1 and has been associated with many amazing historical characters and events. But mainly, it is the fact of life ... nothing is ever for free, big dreams and achievements need to be earned. I have emerged from a relatively modest start (Well, at least I used to think that until I realized that the Czech Republic was far from poor and my family far from underprivileged, but that is was they liked to tell us back then), as a child a struggled heavily at school due to something that was ignored by the old educational system and later diagnosed as a severe case of dyslexia; I never was the best student, but somehow won a few scholarships and competitions; as a woman, I entered a subject with the greatest male dominance of them all and earned my place in the world of science. There were always so many challenges, but the rewards were great. When I was a child, I wanted to become an astronomer and the motto of aiming to the stars across many obstacles just felt fitting and I stuck with it. Now, I am a researcher in plasma physics and have worked on many astrophysical projects, so I guess the main goal has been achieved. I love what I do and I am happy where this motto got me and I am thus going to use it in this blog.

Enjoy!

Katja