• Question: When did you start to be a scientist?

    Asked by gbrazauskaite1 to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 14 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by shaunacolton16, bdennison, cherry0x.
    • Photo: Jono Bone

      Jono Bone answered on 14 Jun 2013:


      Hi gbrazauskaite1,

      I’m not really sure when you really start being a scientist? I’d say I really started to understand what scientific research was about and thinking like a scientist when I did a research project in my third year of university (I was 22).

      Jono

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 15 Jun 2013:


      Hey gbrazauskaite1,

      Well I did a university degree in Biology as soon as I left Sixth Form and then I started working as a professional scientist a few months after finishing university.

      That said, you’re a scientist now since I’ll bet you have science lessons in school? The moment you start asking why things are the way they are, you’ve found your inner scientist!!

      Cheers,

      Ian

    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 16 Jun 2013:


      Hi,
      I was in GCSE science class, I had a lab coat on and goggles. I had a glass cylinder in front of me and random chemicals and was stood in a chemistry lab. This is the image of the typical scientist, and this is when I first felt like a scientist. Why? It wasn’t because of the clothes or the goggles I was wearing. It was my curiosity for science. In that lesson, I did not know how I made carbon dioxide from mixing two liquids together, but I wanted to know, I was curious to know. Being a scientist is about being curious about something and working until you find the answer. I did that on that day, and have been as curious about science, specifically the brain, ever since. This is why I work as a PhD scientist at the University of Manchester, just because of my curiosity for science.

    • Photo: Daniela Plana

      Daniela Plana answered on 16 Jun 2013:


      Hi gbrazauskaite1,

      Although I guess officially I became a scientist when I graduated from Uni after doing a Chemistry degree, I think I was always a bit of a scientist… I always wanted to know how things work and have always asked tons of questions, which are the really important things that make up a scientist!

      Daniela

    • Photo: Mark Hodson

      Mark Hodson answered on 17 Jun 2013:


      Dear gbrazauskaite1

      I think we’re all scientists. Certainly my young children are. Anyone who puzzles about how things works and asks questions is doing what a scientist does. We ask questions about how things work and try and find answer. So I think that I, and everyone else, are hardwired to be scientists from birth!

      cheers

      m

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