I am merely an aspiring physics student--I'm not in university yet--but whenever I tell people that I want to study astrophysics, I always get weird responses that make me uncomfortable. I either get astonishment or, sometimes, I feel that people don't really take me seriously. This bothers me because I don't think physics is nearly as esoteric as a lot of people think. I understand that there is a maths barrier, but I often liken it to learning a new language: it's certainly tricky for most, but once you've learned the fundamentals, everything else comes much more quickly. Perhaps I'm over-simplifying it, but that's just what I've learned from personal experience. Part of the problem also seems to be that when people think of physics they immediately think of Einstein or Newton, who are indeed intimidating, but who are also outliers.
To answer your question more directly, no, I've never sensed that I have intimidated others. Maybe that's because I have yet to actually prove anything. The physics that I want to study intimidates others, though.
