As a physicist, I can really understand how someone might be totally fascinated by say, astrophysics, vs quantum computing, vs particle physics, vs solid state physics etc. the different subdisciplines of physics are such different domains, ask such different questions etc that it seems natural to me to be drawn more towards one area versus another.
However as an outsider, I don’t really understand how someone might become completely infatuated by a particular discipline of pure mathematics. Why algebraic topology vs number theory vs Galois theory vs analytic geometry etc?
I’d be really interested to hear from mathematicians what drew them towards their field of research in particular, and what makes their discipline so fascinating for them, as to me (an ignorant outsider) the differences seem much more marginal to me than the equivalents in physics, and I’d love to gain more insight!
Thanks