• Question: hi, could you tell me ,what do you like about being a scientist

    Asked by allan0501 to Jo, Donna, Mark, Stuart, timcraggs on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by abigail9742, leejp02, doogle, firdos1111, riggsy, libz, moseleal01, biologybrain.
    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hi Allan and Abigail and Lee! 🙂

      I like tons of things about being a scientist – the best thing is that I’m doing something I really enjoy and I get paid for doing it! Imagine what you really *really* enjoy doing right now. Then what if someone gives you money to do that? Pretty cool, huh?

      There are very many fascinating people who are scientists and given that I like talking (who doesn’t?), I enjoy having a natter to others about what they’re up to. It’s also amazing to be the first. I mean the first person who has ever done certain things. That’s why us scientists publish papers, a bit like scientific reports. They let everyone know what we’re up to but you can only get one published if they contain new bits of work which have never been done before.

      But to be perfectly honest, I’m a chemist because I enjoy controlled fires and explosions!

    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi Allan, Abigail and Lee
      There are lots of things to like about being a scientist…

      I’m really interested in finding out new things and I get bored quite quickly. Science is great in that you find out new things all the time – and even better there are always new techniques to learn and new research that I should be reading.

      I’m also very lucky in that science has allowed me to visit countries and places that I probably wouldn’t have visited if there hadn’t been a conference there! A recent examples was a conference in Japan – wow! I booked a place like a shot, then paid (from my own money) for an additional trip from tokyo to kyoto (the old capital) – it was a really fatastic place to visit.

      Do you like science? Would you consider being scientists?

    • Photo: Mark Lancaster

      Mark Lancaster answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      The unexpected and that you are often the only person in the world doing what you are doing and that your work will ultimately benefit the human race – probably not immediately but at some point.

      I also really enjoy the interaction with other scientists and the social aspects of lots of people having ideas (often crazy ones). It also gives me the opportunity to travel a lot which I enjoy and I’ve been fortunate to live overseas through science (the USA and Germany).

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