AT the age of 19, opera prodigy Jessica May Hislop was singing at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow.

Five years later, she has swapped arias for academia and graduated from Sussex University with a first class honours master’s degree to spend her life looking at the stars.

Jessica, 25, who was born in Storrington, had a love of maths and the sciences from an early age.

At an age when other children were colouring in pictures, she used to ask her mother to write down sums for her to calculate at the dinner table.

But despite displaying early signs of being a scientist, her vocal talents drew her into the world of opera singing.

Jessica was accepted into the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, one of the oldest and most prestigious performing arts schools in the UK which was last year ranked third in the world.

Jessica said: “When I was a singer I was spending eight hours a day singing to myself in the mirror.

“But something was missing, I missed using my brain.”

An avid watcher of documentaries, Jessica would spend hours watching TV scientists Brain Cox and Carl Sagan, engrossed by the endless complexities of the heavens.

So after just three months at the conservatoire, she decided to pursue her first love and headed to the University of Sussex to begin her journey into the world of astrophysics.

She said: “People think that because space is massive it is intimidating.

“When I chose to do physics, it was a huge gamble but it’s the decision I’ve made in my life and I’ve never questioned it.

“I’m so happy and proud that it’s worked out.”

After completing a foundation year, her hard work and natural talent won her a place working on Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The £7 billion telescope is the scientific successor to the Hubble Telescope and is set to launch in 2021.

Jessica’s roles on the project included predicting data that would be sent from the probe when it is sent into space.

She also was sent out to drum up excitement about the project with members of the public, a role she used to tackle the perception that science is a male environment.

She said: “A seven-year-old girl said to me that she thought science is not for girls – I don’t know who told her that.

“I don’t know why it’s considered a male subject that women can’t do.

“There are so many studies showing that no gender is better than the other.

“We need to teaching children in primary schools, not just at GCSE level, that science is open to everyone.”

A 2014 survey of almost 3,000 people found that more than half could not name a famous woman in science and membership on science boards is still predominantly male, with women making up just 36 per cent of board members.

Jessica graduated last week with a first class integrated masters in physics with astrophysics.

She was also awarded the university’s award for an outstanding project. It was one of just three awards given to students.

Jessica’s was for her computer simulation work predicting gravitational waves during the merger of the heaviest objects in the universe such as black holes and neutron stars.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Jessica is set to leave the the UK behind and is moving to Germany to gain her doctorate.

She will be using her knowledge of computer simulations to analyse the formation of galaxies at the world-renowned Max Planck Institute in Munich.