• Question: how long have you been a scincetist ?

    Asked by soph832 to Zoe, Jon, Sharon, Louise, Daniel on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by tiioshax, supergirl786, leematikaryan, bcamp, shonagregory.
    • Photo: Jon Copley

      Jon Copley answered on 13 Jun 2010:

      As a job, I’ve been a scientist for sixteen years – my first job as a scientist was as a Research Assistant while I was studying for my PhD degree. I guess I qualified as a scientist when I was twenty, which was when I finished my first degree in Zoology.

      But if a “scientist” is what you call someone who is interested in science, then I’ve been a scientist my whole life. Science was one of my favourite subjects at school, and outside school as well – my hobbies while growing up included geology (collecting rocks and minerals, and finding out about them), wildlife and animal behaviour, and computers.

      I think everyone is born a scientist, in that we all start life curious about the world around us. Some people keep that curiousity, and I think studying science is a great way to do that – at least it was for me.

    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      well I guess since I started my first science “proper job” which was in 1998, so 12 years ago, but I think that i’ve always been a scientist, ever since my first crude experiments at age 5 with digging up worms and forcefeeding them leaves to see how they eat!!

    • Photo: Zoe Duck

      Zoe Duck answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Depends what you class as a scientist!
      I have been working in a lab studying for a doctorate for nearly 3 years. I have 1 more year to go until I become Dr. Zoe 🙂
      Before that I did a four year natural sciences degree, but I don’t suppose that counts…

    • Photo: Louise Dash

      Louise Dash answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Always, probably! I only started training as a scientist in my early twenties though. The reason I say always is because I think at heart we are *all* scientists. When I watch my kids and their friends (they’re 5 and nearly 2) I realise they’re not just playing, they’re performing scientific experiments that tell them how the world works, it’s great! Something seems to happen as we grow up though, and we often seem to lose that sense of wonder and discovery, which is really sad.

Comments

  • Photo: Daniel

    Daniel commented on :

    I suppose I’ve been a scientist for about 13 years. I didn’t my undergraduate degree in philosophy and psychology. I didn’t think I would like the psychology bit as much. But by the end of it, I fell in love with the scientific method, the idea that you can prove things by experimenting (rather than endlessly debating and getting nowhere, as happens about 5 minutes into any philosophy discussion). Then I started my PhD and started my own experiments, which I suppose would be the start of my scientific career.