• Question: What inspired you to be a scientist?!

    Asked by carlyraejepsen7275 to Arlene, Colin, David, Eugene, Paul on 10 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by tinytoes, ciarakelly, paddyhayden.
    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 10 Nov 2012:

      Mainly my dad and both of my grandpas. My dad always read science fiction to me as a kid and we talked a lot about space and whatnot. One of my grandpas was a carpenter and he used physics in his work (you need to think about forces and geometry to build things). My other grandpa was a truck driver and said he got so bored that he would do complicated math problems in his head to pass the time. Also, I remember asking my dad “how do you become a scientist?”, when I was a kid, and he said “it is really hard, you have to go to school for a really long time, and you have to be really smart”. So, I think I partially just wanted to prove that I could do it. And by the way, I think that having a real interest in science and being willing to work is more important than what your IQ is (I don’t think IQ is a reliable way of determining someone’s intelligence, anyway).

    • Photo: David McKeown

      David McKeown answered on 11 Nov 2012:

      Hmmm… I enjoyed learning about physics, chemistry and mathematics when I was in school. Science helps us to understand the world we living in, which I find fascinating. We know so much and still we are constantly finding out more. I ended up studying engineering in college. Really enjoyed it, and I never looked back.

      I’m the only “sciencey” person in my family. I thought about doing lots of other things that weren’t science related (architecture, psychology) I’m sure I would have enjoyed them too. You don’t have to spend all your time thinking about science to be a scientist. It is not something you have to know you want to do when you are a child either. I think a lot of people get a taste for science when in secondary school when they start to see how science explains the wonders of world, this can be all inspiration required to maintain a interest in science for life.

    • Photo: Colin Johnston

      Colin Johnston answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Star Trek and Doctor Who.

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