• Question: What made u want to be a scientist?

    Asked by anon-249567 on 2 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-249571, anon-249568, anon-249580, anon-250028.
    • Photo: Sarah Carter

      Sarah Carter answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      I’ve always be really curious about people and our behaviour and how we are connected. For a while, I thought I’d be a psychologist! However, I took an anthropology course at university and fell in love with studying people in the societies and contexts in which they live. I’m really lucky that now I get to study human health in populations and spend my days thinking about how health is connected across generations.

    • Photo: Paige Chandler

      Paige Chandler answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      Hi huliovonspitio,
      I always enjoyed science at school. I liked the idea that you, as a scientist, could be the first person in the world to find out something brand new. Like Darwin who figured out how evolution worked, or Franklin who first found out the structure of DNA.

    • Photo: Sarah Clarke

      Sarah Clarke answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      When I was at school I always wanted to be a vet. But weirdly I became allergic to all animals when I was doing my GCSEs and had a pretty hard time. Being a vet and being allergic to animals didn’t seem like a great combination so I had to think of a plan B. I decided I didn’t want other people to have to change their dreams because of their health so I decided to be a scientist and find out about why allergies happen. I studied a degree in Immunology (how the immune system works) and then went to medical school to train as a doctor. I’ve branched our from allergy research these days, by my own experiences still drive my science every single day.

    • Photo: Andrea Kusec

      Andrea Kusec answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      I’ve always had an interest in the brain and mind and from a young age. I have epilepsy (a brain disorder that causes seizures) and so always wonder how injury to the brain affects our behaviour in day-to-day life. After volunteering in a hospital, I learned that the answer is not simple at all! There is so much individuality in the brain that we need lots of people answering tough questions to figure it out. I think this is what really drove me to become a scientist.

    • Photo: Robyn Kiy

      Robyn Kiy answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      I have always loved science – at school I always found it really interesting how we knew so much about the human body, especially when the cells that make it up are so tiny. However, I only decided that I definitely wanted to be a scientist when I was at university, because I really enjoyed doing lab work and making the discoveries myself.

    • Photo: Samir Hopestone

      Samir Hopestone answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      Hi,

      Since I was a child, i wanted to be marine biologist. I always enjoyed watching life documentaries and decided that i wanted to be a scientist. I studies marine biology and then when i left i decided i preferred the molecular biology which is what i do here at MRC Harwell.

    • Photo: Nuru Noor

      Nuru Noor answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      Being a scientist allows you to ask questions that maybe nobody has ever asked before or come up with ideas nobody has ever found before!!

      Especially in medicine this is a really cool feeling as you know that you work could potenitally help improve quality of life for lots and lots of people 👍

    • Photo: Nathan Kindred

      Nathan Kindred answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      I originally planned to study medicine at university so that I could learn more about the brain and help people, but I realised that I wanted to work to find answers about our brains that could have an even bigger impact than just helping some patients as a doctor! So I turned down a medicine offer and studied biomedical sciences instead, and now I’m doing a PhD in neuroscience and neuropsychology.

    • Photo: Sarah Brown

      Sarah Brown answered on 2 Mar 2020:


      I don’t think I knew I wanted to be a scientist until I was one! I just carried on with learning through a degree and then a masters and now a PhD because it’s what I enjoy doing! Is also nice to know that the work you’re doing has a real impact on the world and is new and exciting!

    • Photo: Lotte de Winde

      Lotte de Winde answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I always wanted to become a medical doctor, but I did not make it into medicine studies. I decided to study biomedical sciences, and I really enjoyed it! During my BSc internship in a research lab at the end of my third year, I enjoyed doing research so much, that I decided that I didn’t want to become a medical doctor anymore, but a scientist. And I still don’t regret this choice!

    • Photo: Ioana Grigoras

      Ioana Grigoras answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I didn’t want to be a scientist when I finished school. At the time, I wanted to become a doctor. I went to medical school for 6 years, and during that time, I also started working in a neuroscience lab. Science wasn’t just reading and taking exams. It was being able to run your experiments, analysing data, presenting at conferences (and hanging out with other nerdy scientists). I realised I enjoyed research more than clinical practice, so I decided to apply for postgraduate studies and become a scientist.

    • Photo: Katrina Wesencraft

      Katrina Wesencraft answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I used to want to be a vet but when I did work experience, I realised that I couldn’t spend my whole day with animals that are sick or in pain. It was too upsetting for me. I still loved biology so I decided to study that at university. I really like learning new things so I’ve just kept studying!

    • Photo: M S

      M S answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I think for me I knew I enjoyed sciences so I kinda just followed that path. I wasnt sure what I wanted to do in it but I knew I liked science and followed it to this point!

      I then found what area I liked and i became more specific but to start with I just knew what subjects I liked

    • Photo: Nazia Ahmed

      Nazia Ahmed answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I was always curious, I enjoyed biology and physics in school. I had a good science teacher who always did fun experiments in class with us, I think that was one of the reasons I enjoyed science more than other subjects like English. I enjoyed classes that let us do interactive things!

      I was lucky enough to go to a science camp when I was in secondary school and I was able to do a research project for a couple of weeks in the summer and I loved it.

    • Photo: Nathan James

      Nathan James answered on 3 Mar 2020: last edited 3 Mar 2020 12:42 pm


      Both my parents are biology graduates, so I inherited their enthusiasm for science! While other children were interested in football and cars, I always preferred to explore gardens and read books about dinosaurs. Nothing has changed! I’m still driven by the desire to understand the natural world. It’s just so cool!
      Although biology was my first love, I really enjoyed chemistry in school and it seemed like a good idea to combine both subjects at university. Now I study the chemistry of life, which means that I get to see invisible things that no one has even imagined before. That’s the spirit of scientific discovery!

    • Photo: Kate Mitchell

      Kate Mitchell answered on 3 Mar 2020:


      I had a really inspiring science teacher at school who encouraged us to be curious and ask questions, so I decided I wanted to study science more. Then I just kept studying it, finding different areas that were interesting and exciting, and decided to keep working in science after I finished studying!

    • Photo: Amadou Camara

      Amadou Camara answered on 4 Mar 2020:


      Because I want to solve the proble.s in my nation in health or reduce the mortality rate in minor illnesses in Africa

    • Photo: Sophie Arthur

      Sophie Arthur answered on 4 Mar 2020:


      I became really fascinated by how all the molecules and proteins in our cells coordinated at lightning speeds to allow us to walk and talk and breathe alongside all the other things that they do to keep our bodies in working order.
      I was just always curious to learn more about that and all science in general really

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