• Question: what got you into science/im a scientist get me out of here?

    Asked by plasmadragon101 to Anna, George, Jodi, Rob, Stefan on 10 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by doghorse, 12345.
    • Photo: Anna Scaife

      Anna Scaife answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      That’s a good question – and not one I’m sure I have a simple answer to. I certainly didn’t just wake up one morning and think, “Wow, I want to be a scientist”… It was a gradual thing, based on all those points where you have to make choices: first of all, there were GCSE choices, which got narrowed down to A-level choices, which got narrowed down to degree choices. When I finished my degree (which was in physics), I just thought “Well, I really enjoy this and I don’t seem to be too bad at it – let’s give it a go.” It’s not like that for everyone, but that’s how it happened for me.

      Certainly the choices I made at school were influenced by who my teachers were – I had great science and maths teachers and that made a big difference. From university onwards you’re more on your own and you get a better feeling for what you’re capable of independently.

      As for “I’m a scientist, get me out of here” – I think you guys should have every opportunity to ask these questions and I’m happy to help with that!

    • Photo: Stefan Lines

      Stefan Lines answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      What got me into Science was the urge to find out more about how to world worked around me. I had great science teachers that encouraged me to go and study it at University. Then I had a great time at University doing research that made me want to do it as a job.

      As for IAS – The sad truth is that in this world, I think you’ll find that people either don’t want to listen to your opinions, or they want to charge you for their advice. Science is so important, our lives depend on it every second, and we should be talking about it – to everyone, freely and openly. IAS is a chance to spread the word.

    • Photo: George Ryall

      George Ryall answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Curiosity

    • Photo: Rob Appleyard

      Rob Appleyard answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      What lead me to study science was how much I enjoyed it at school. I liked being able to run experiments and see the results that we predicted. Also, this was what a lot of my Chemistry classes looked like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnblmZdTbYs

      I’ve spent a lot of time working outside of science though, and honestly? I came back because I was looking for a new job and I thought this sounded like an interesting place to work.

    • Photo: Jodi Schneider

      Jodi Schneider answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      What got me into science? I did a bunch of undergraduate research projects during my Bachelor’s degree — which exposed me to lots of different areas of science. I got to stand inside an astronomy observatory while it was being built. And to work with chemists who wanted to model how DNA folds into knots. In math, I even published a paper about how many toothpicks it takes to make a knot. I like the way scientists think, so it seemed like a good fit.

      What got me into I’m a scientist get me out of here? Mainly I wanted to see what students care about — but I’m also hoping to win some money for improving medication safety on Wikipedia.

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