• Question: How do you officially know when you are a scientist do people tell you or do you just guess

    Asked by Ross0123 to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Great question! I am still wondering…

      I felt that when I finished my PhD I was a scientist but I have friends who are definitely scientists but who don’t have PhDs or even degrees.

      So in answer, no, no one has ever told me, so I did just guess!

    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I love this question! I’ve never thought about it properly I guess!

      I considered myself a scientist when I started getting paid to do science but there’s not like a club we join where they say congrats you’re now a scientist.

      I suppose it’s when you feel like you’re a scientist

    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Hi there,
      Great and interesting question.
      I guess this can be split in two ways: when you consider yourself a scientist and when others think of you as a scientist.
      The main qualification to become a scientist I guess is your PhD. This is a qualification you get from studying something in depth for about 3 or 4 years (sometimes more) and you write a great big book about it!
      But qualifications aside I think that everyone is a scientist. If you ask questions and do “experiments” to find things out – then you are a scientist!

    • Photo: David Wilson

      David Wilson answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I think everyone is, or can be, a scientist- wherever you see something it the world and want to know more about it, or to find out how it works, that’s being a scientist.

    • Photo: Tora Smulders-Srinivasan

      Tora Smulders-Srinivasan answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I think I started being a scientist when I studied biology at university. Or maybe even a bit before that!

      It’s certainly hard to know — so it’s probably something that everyone decides for themselves!

      Are you a scientist? 🙂

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