• Question: How long have you been a scientist for?

    Asked by Alexwolf to Hugh, Triona, Simone on 5 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by debsob13, 643newp28, mr man.
    • Photo: Hugh Manning

      Hugh Manning answered on 5 Nov 2018: last edited 5 Nov 2018 5:17 pm


      This is a really interesting question, it made me think about the stage at which I would have thought of myself as a scientist.
      I think that Science is a way of thinking about things, having a critical view of the world around us. To call yourself a scientist you have to have an interest in science, a good understanding and acceptance of the scientific method, which is, making a prediction, testing things experimentally, looking at the data you get and then changing your prediction if things didn’t work out like you thought. Its also really important to have a taste for learning, an appreciation for knowledge, and a desire to understand how things work. When all of these are accounted for, I would call myself a scientist
      I think I had all of these things when I started studying science in college, we would do experiments, learn about different scientific topics and in our final year, perform some research.
      So to answer this really thoughtful question, I would consider myself a scientist for about 9 years now.

    • Photo: Triona

      Triona answered on 6 Nov 2018:


      I think all of my life. I can claim to be a scientist formally since I completed my first degree back in 1990 – a very long time!

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