• Question: what is it like to be a scientist

    Asked by purebloodcross to Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul, Sarah on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by dianna, legend.
    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Fun!?!?

      Well in some ways it’s just like any job. I go to work, get paid and then go home / out and have fun

      but I get to work on experiments and ask and answer questions that no one has before – because of this I think it’s a really satisfying job to do. I really enjoy it.

    • Photo: Lily Asquith

      Lily Asquith answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      I wouldn’t want to be anything else. It’s endlessly interesting and inspiring.

    • Photo: Sarah Bardsley

      Sarah Bardsley answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      It’s great! I like being a scientist and understanding (sometimes!) the world around me. It’s good to recognise how amazing the earth is and to be inspired. Being a scientist helps me approach things in a logical way. Most of all I like that its a little bit different from other people. I feel quite proud when I’m at a party and someone asks me what I do and I can say “I’m a scientist”!

    • Photo: Laura Maliszewski

      Laura Maliszewski answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Fun. You get to decide what’s important to research, then make a plan and find new things. Every day is different!

    • Photo: Paul Roche

      Paul Roche answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Mostly good, but sometimes frustrating – like any job, there are good days and bad days, and days when you just want to go home and lie down. But other days, when you are doing well, getting results, teaching well etc., it’s fantastic. The idea that someone will pay you to do exciting experiments, travel to exotic places to look at stars, or work on amazing new drugs etc. is just incredible, and I think most scientists would do it even if their salaries were cut!

      I always tell people that being a scientists is like being a detective – you have clues, evidence, and a vague idea of what might have happened, and then you have to pull everything together and try to prove it. That can be very hard, very frustrating, and take a long time – but you might solve a really big, important problem, or at least help out with some of the proof.

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