• Question: How did you become a scientist?

    Asked by ashchn to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 12 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by 328gdna37, 466gdna37.
    • Photo: Tora Smulders-Srinivasan

      Tora Smulders-Srinivasan answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I learned about DNA, heredity, & genetics when I was about 13 in my biology class at school & just became fascinated. I had a great teacher and I just loved the idea of all these molecules and proteins inside us doing so many cool things to make us work.

      I took a lot of science and maths classes when I was at school and university & still loved DNA and genetics, so I decided to do a Ph.D.

      I think I became a scientist somewhere in that process! 🙂

    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I think we are all scientists – if you ask questions and test things then you are a scientist….have you ever pressed a button to see what it did???

      In terms of a professional career and job…well I kinda fell into it if I am honest.
      At the end of my University degree I was wondering what to do next, applied for a few jobs and didn’t get them…I wanted to hang around in Sheffield as all my mates were there and I had a girlfriend too and then I saw an opportunity to do a PhD and I got that position…I worked on that for 3 years and then went into research from then on.

    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      That’s a great question and to be honest im not sure about the answer, I think I always looked at the world in a certain way, always wanting to know why something is the way it is, and so science always seemed like a good career for me.

      But I didn’t know that normal, non-genius, people could be scientists until I was at university, until then like most people I had never met a scientist so I never thought that it was a job you could have!

    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I trained as a vet but realised that I was a huge geek and that science excites me more than being a vet so I took an extra degree in science and now work in a lab. If you are interested there are loads of summer schools for school children to learn about science in some of the universities that you can try being a scientist and see how you like it.

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