• Question: what do you think makes a good scientist or what is required

    Asked by to Aimee, Chris, Dave, Greig, Laurence on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Dave Jones

      Dave Jones answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      There are a few obvious things, like you have to work hard and do well in school, etc. But I honestly think the most important thing is to be interested! To be a good scientist, you have to wake up in the morning and really want to go to work, you have to really want to get on with the experiment that you are doing because you are just desperate to have the answer, desperate to understand something. I think you can be really clever and still not be a good scientist, just because you really need that passion so that you will devote sooooo much time to it all!

    • Photo: Laurence Perreault Levasseur

      Laurence Perreault Levasseur answered on 14 Jun 2014:

      I think the most important thing is to be deeply interested by some questions that you want to find answers to, or things you want to understand. Usually, if you are deeply interested and curious about something, working hard becomes very easy and more like a game than actual hard or difficult work.

      I think it probably helps to have a good sense of observation and to be surprised by things (like, to see something as you walk on the street and to think ‘hum.. that’s odd, I wonder why this happens!’ ), and to be good at making connections between different ideas.

      However, I don’t really think it’s that important to be doing well in school… It can help, but it’s not essential and it doesn’t guarantee success. Apparently even Einstein was a very ordinary student, not particularly good or gifted! More down-to-earth, I myself was a pretty ordinary student in school. I just started to work hard when I got to university, because I started finding what I was doing absolutely fascinating.

    • Photo: Aimee Hopper

      Aimee Hopper answered on 15 Jun 2014:

      A good scientist is someone who asks “why”, and isn’t scared to find out the answer. Einstein failed school, but continued to ask “why”, and look where he got to!

    • Photo: Greig Cowan

      Greig Cowan answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Here is a list of what I think makes a good scientist, in a rough order of priority:

      1. Be interested in what you are studying! This is really essential as it is only by being curious about your subject that you will dig deeper and find the answers that no-one else has found before.

      2. Work hard.

      3. Be a good communicator. You need to be able to describe your work in detail to your colleagues and in more general terms to the wider scientific community and the public.

      4. Find out everything there is to know about your subject: not just in the small area where you are working but also in the wider field. This will help to put your work into context and might also allow you to apply some ideas from a different area to your own work.

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