• Question: When did you first become a real scientist?

    Asked by katie272 to Antoine, Daniel, James, Julie, Saima on 14 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: James Hickey

      James Hickey answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hi Katie.

      I consider the point I finished my degree and started doing a PhD as the time I became a ‘real’ scientist.

      My degree was science based (geoscience) but many people leave university and take jobs in all sorts of different things. I decided to stay and research volcanoes so I think this is when I committed myself to science.

      In case you don’t know, a PhD is further research about a specific topic (like volcanoes, or medical microbiology) and when you finish you become a ‘Doctor’ of your subject.

    • Photo: Julie Speakman

      Julie Speakman answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hello again katie272
      I love your question! It’s caused much debate at work today. Was it when I threw away my play- scientist suit? Or am I actually a real scientist even now?! A few years ago, my friends at work created an imagnary person called “Steve”, who is the Scientist part of Julie. They say most of the time I’m just Julie but when I start talking about clever science stuff , that’s Steve. So maybe that was when I became a Real scientist. I also believe you can be a scientist in lots of jobs as it’s more about how you think and try to solve problems.

      How about you, do you think you are a scientist?

    • Photo: Daniel Patten

      Daniel Patten answered on 15 Nov 2013:

      Hi Katie,

      Tough question!

      For me personally, I feel like a ‘real’ scientist when I’m in the lab and performing experiments. Also, when I’m talking to people at work, I sometimes have a moment where I think, ‘Wow, we are talking some serious science here!’, so that make me feel like a ‘real’ scientist too!

    • Photo: Saima Rehman

      Saima Rehman answered on 15 Nov 2013:

      Hi katie272! I started to feel like a “real scientist” when my first research work was published. I stated to feel like, ah now I am a published scientist. Before that nobody knew me and my work.

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