Rebeca Gonzalez Suarez

What drives you?

While I may not always have had a clear path in life, problem solving is a constant that I have enjoyed since I was very little. I could always summon just a bit more patience to figure something out, and I always had a couple more options to check if one did not work. Thanks to my mother being very much a non-conformist anti-authoritarian, I never believed there was an “official” correct solution that I needed to know, I could (and was supposed to) create my own solutions.

When I first arrived to CERN something clicked and I realized it was the place where I belonged. I found a powerful driving force in my job, particle physics, that, coincidentally, is very suitable for a problem-solving person. And I have followed that passion all the way to today. 

However, when I was learning how to drive (this time not metaphorically, but a car), my father (who did not teach me himself, just provided some wise advice), told me that the most important thing is that you should drive the car, not the other way around, and I think that applies to life in general. This is why, while I find a lot of satisfaction in my job, I am starting to think that maybe it has been driving me a bit too much and I am beginning to think that I probably can I balance it out better.

How do you move when you have to overcome an obstacle, and what tricks do you reach for to help you?

This depends on the kind of obstacle but in general, I find obstacles motivating. As I mentioned before: I like problem-solving. I am very much aware that I am the person I am because I have found certain obstacles along the way. And I have learned more from some of those than from the times when everything went smoothly. 

I also think the best stories are those when things did not go according to plan, and I believe so much in the usefulness of failure that I have created a course in my university about that. The course is called Physics Fails and is a reflection on failure/accidents/misconceptions in physics and how much we collectively learned from them in the end. 

So my only trick is to approach the obstacle as a problem to be solved, be ready to work on it, and be comfortable with the fact that whatever you try may not work. I am also an optimist at the core, so maybe that helps.  

What do you wish you were asked more often?

I have a few examples: Do you want this extra funding for your research? Could you please use these unlimited resources for students, postdocs, and the tools they need to work? Could you please accept this arrangement that will guarantee better conditions for your whole group? How could we make your job easier?

Jokes aside, I like to be asked to give talks in places that mean something for me. I would love to give a talk in my neighborhood in Gijón, at my old school or high school, or in the village where my grandparents lived for example. 

One book you love

This is a very difficult question for me because I read a lot, I read everything, and I remember very little after. I also never have favorites in general, but there are books I have re-read in my life many times; I have some examples (all of them short): Sin noticias de Gurb - Eduardo Mendoza, The summer book - Tove Jansson, or the Red Pony - John Steinbeck. 

One place that you will never forget

Ibiza, anywhere, is where I would teleport if that was a viable option. I like it very much there, though I have not visited since 2021. Last time that I was in Aigües Blanques it was just perfect, very calm, not many people, the sun was bright, and the water transparent. 

But if we are discussing wow factor, I will always remember driving a rental car that was breaking down from Salt Lake City to Moab in the US. We took a turn to the scenic byway U-128 and saw the Colorado river for the first time. That was pretty amazing.