• Question: When did you become a scientist? and why did you become a scinetist?

    Asked by to Dre, Charli, Heather, Oliver, Becky on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , .
    • Photo: Heather Price

      Heather Price answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      I guess I’ve always been a bit of a scientist….I used to drive my Mum crazy asking her lots of questions, like ‘what holds the sky up?’ and ‘how do they get the writing onto rich tea biscuits?’! I think I first really thought of myself as being a scientist when I started my PhD (7 years ago). A PhD is a training course you do after you go to University to get you better at science and research. It takes about 3 or 4 years to complete, and when you finish it you can call yourself ‘doctor’! There are lots of good things about being a scientist, like getting to study what you’re interested in and getting to travel, so that’s why I’m still doing it!

    • Photo: Charlotte Flavell

      Charlotte Flavell answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi maryclevergir123 and tylerbriany,

      Like Heather, I started thinking of myself as a scientist when I started my PhD, that was in 2006. This was the first time that I got paid to do research and didn’t have to have a part-time job in a bar or a shop!

      I decided to become a scientist while I was doing my degree at University. There was an option to come in during the Summer holidays and do a science project of your own, I did this and I was hooked! I’d always loved science and I’d kind of already decided I wanted to do it as a job, but after my summer placement there was no going back!

    • Photo: Rebecca Williams

      Rebecca Williams answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi tylerbriany and maryclevergirl123,

      Just like Charli and Heather, I only considered myself to be a scientist once I had a job that paid me to do science which was when I did my PhD.

      But looking back, I’ve always been a ‘scientist’ if scientist means somebody who asks questions about the world and then does experiments to answer those questions. I did this all through university, when I was in Hawaii and even when I was at school! I just wasn’t being paid so I didn’t really think I was a ‘scientist’.

    • Photo: Andrea Cristini

      Andrea Cristini answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      I think during the end of high school (year 10 maybe?). When I was inspired by my Physics teacher, I then took more of an interest in Physics. I never really liked (or was any good) at Physics before then, but before I knew it I was top of the class! I then decided to go to college, where I studied A-levels in Physics, Maths, Electronics and Computing. Then I did a degree in Astrophysics and Mathematics after which I was really interested in particles so did a Masters in that. Now though I have come back to Astrophysics to do a PhD. Really though now I feel I have succeeded as a scientist as I’m actually researching about things no one has ever done before and getting paid to do it! While travelling the world to tell other scientists about what I am doing.

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