UP’s Dr Thabsile Thabethe used to be a nuclear physicist, gallivanting to Russia to collaborate with scientists there. Now, she’s switched her research focus to exploring materials used in hip and joint replacement surgery, working closer to home with a wealth of collaborators. And she’s found time to write books on science and maths for youngsters.

Dr Thabsile Thabethe, a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria (UP), sets a great example for inspiring young people, particularly in science.

Rather than just talking about motivation, she actively engages with children as young as toddlers, using her expertise to create accessible educational materials. Her series of five books, designed for children aged one to five, cover topics like thermodynamics, X-rays and basic maths, and use colourful illustrations and simple language to demonstrate how science permeates everyday life. Inspired by her own daughter’s curiosity, Dr Thabethe’s books aim to make complex concepts understandable to young minds, thereby fostering in them a love for science from an early age.

“I simply love physics because it explains many of the phenomena in our daily lives,” she said in an interview with the alumni newsletter of her alma mater, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (formerly the University of Limpopo). “It helps us understand the world around us; it challenges us to think beyond what our eyes can see; and it makes us curious, like toddlers trying to understand the world around them.”

Dr Thabethe has visited various high schools to motivate students and raise awareness about the opportunities available in the field of physics. Additionally, she’s participated in a documentary by the South African Institute of Physics about women role models in physics.

She also lectures in physics for biological sciences on Mamelodi campus. One of the major changes she has implemented in the module is project-based learning, thus allowing students to better understand the importance of physics and its application in their lives and potential careers.

When lecturing there, she sometimes buys food from hawkers on the side of the road, and is often fascinated by the mathematical abilities of young children there.

“You’ll be surprised to see a small child on their own who is able to tell you how much of what they’re buying costs and the change they are due. I often think, ‘Your maths is actually quite good. But this is confusing – when you’re at school, you cannot do half the things you’re doing now.’

“Maths and money are separated, yet it’s the same thing,” she continues. “Once you start forming links between things – if you start connecting things – it becomes easy.”

Dr Thabethe says this convinces her that anyone can do maths and science.

“It’s just a matter of getting a push in the right direction.”

For her, part of that push came from her late maternal grandmother, who wanted everyone in the household to become medical doctors. Two of the cousins Dr Thabethe grew up with fulfilled their grandmother’s wish, but she and her brother “took a detour”. Dr Thabethe, who feels uncomfortable at the sight of blood, says: “I had to lean towards something that I found much easier, more enjoyable and more engaging, which was maths and physics.”

Moving to UP after completing her honours degree was the next step, but she hadn’t planned on nuclear physics. Initially, she intended to pursue another honours degree in Financial Mathematics. However, a visit to the campus changed her mind. Professor Johan Malherbe, who later became her PhD supervisor and is now her colleague, showed her the Physics Department’s research. He sparked her interest in nuclear material research.

“That’s how I found myself in the Nuclear Material Group,” Dr Thabethe says, a choice that has taken her to Russia many times, both for conferences and to work at the higher energy radiation facilities at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, in the Moscow region.

Following discussions with Dr Tshepo Ntsoane of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, her long-time collaborator, Dr Thabethe has shifted her research interests. She is now working on fabricating and examining biomedical devices, particularly material used in hip and joint replacement surgery.

“It has tangible applications, and when seeking collaborators, I don’t need to search far – everything I require is within the same institution,” she says, highlighting UP’s wealth of physicists, chemists, biologists and medical doctors who are available for collaboration.

Dr Thabethe is at ease chatting about everything from her ideas on teaching to seemingly complicated physics. But ask her how she relaxes, and there’s a long silence.

“Wow, that’s a difficult question,” she says. “I'm not sure. I don’t think I have done relaxing.”

But, she finally concedes, to unwind she watches YouTube videos for recipes. She also devours any type of novel.

“When I’m not doing my own work, I'm helping my daughter with some of her schoolwork or I'm helping my friends. I'm always doing something.”