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Professor Kirrily Rule has always wanted to know how the world works.

“I had an insatiable curiosity and was always the kid who asked, ‘but why?’” she says.

While Kirrily knew in high school that she wanted to study physics, she never imagined it would become her career. In fact, she says it took a long time before she even identified herself as a physicist.

Today, Kirrily is a Senior Principal Instrument Scientist at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering at ANSTO and an Honorary Professor in Physics at the University of Wollongong. Her research spans condensed matter physics, neutron scattering, magnetism and quantum materials.

Hooked on experimental physics

Kirrily’s path into physics wasn’t entirely conventional.

At Monash University she completed a combined Arts and Science degree, majoring in psychology and drama alongside her science studies, before completing Honours and a PhD in physics.

Drama, it turns out, also provided a useful skill for a future physicist.

“I learnt to project my voice. Not a bad skill for giving physics presentations at conferences!”

But it was her Honours year that changed the direction of her career.

It was intense, but Kirrily loved performing experiments and the possibility of discovering something nobody else had seen before.

“I loved the idea that I was the first person to see the results, and it was amazing to me when all my data came together to tell the same story,” she says.

“From there I was hooked on experimental research.”

Seeing physics from different perspectives

Physics subsequently took Kirrily well beyond Australia.

After her PhD, she moved to Canada for a postdoctoral fellowship at McMaster University and then to Berlin, Germany, where she became an instrument scientist at HZB-Berlin.

The eight years she spent overseas shaped both her science and her outlook.

“I was a sponge and learnt so much from a wide variety of people with very different viewpoints to me.”

When Kirrily discovered she was pregnant while living in Berlin, an opportunity arose to return to Australia and join ANSTO.

The move brought her closer to extended family and reconnected her with the Australian physics community, while allowing her to bring home the experience and knowledge she had gained overseas.

Using neutrons to understand materials

At ANSTO, Kirrily helps Australian and international researchers use neutron scattering to investigate the structure and dynamics of materials.

These can range from quantum magnets to functional materials and new materials for low-energy technologies.

Her days might involve supporting scientists conducting experiments, analysing data, developing new capabilities for neutron instruments or supervising PhD students.

“No two days are ever the same, which I love.”

Much of Kirrily’s own work is fundamental research, exploring the properties of materials at the atomic scale and investigating how those properties can be manipulated.

The applications may still be years away, but building this fundamental knowledge can lay the groundwork for future technologies.

“Who knows? Maybe one day the materials I am investigating will be found in the next iPhone or in quantum computers.”

Why different perspectives matter

Collaboration has remained one of Kirrily’s favourite parts of being a physicist.

She works with scientists from around the world and values not only what she learns about their research, but the different perspectives, experiences and cultures they bring to it.

“I feel like I learn something new every day.”

That experience has also shaped her views about diversity in physics.

“Diversity is critical in physics as people from different backgrounds and with different life experiences can bring a richness of ideas to a project,” she says.

For Kirrily, those differences extend beyond gender, age or race. Socioeconomic background, beliefs, experiences and even everyday habits can influence how people approach a problem.

And after a career that has taken her from Melbourne to Canada, Germany and back to Australia, the curiosity that first drew her to physics remains.

She is still asking: but why?

Watch Kirrily share her thoughts on quantum science. 

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This article was first published in September 2026, as part of the AIP's #PhysicsGotMeHere series, featuring some of the career pathways that have been made possible by a physics degree.