• Question: @all did u always want to be a scientist.

    Asked by anon-217589 to Savannah, Philippe, Lucy, Joanna, Harrison, Edoardo on 10 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-217072.
    • Photo: Savannah Clawson

      Savannah Clawson answered on 10 Jun 2019:


      No! I think that I have always had a scientific mind as I always enjoyed solving problems and puzzles and loved toys like lego growing up (but I believe everyone has the potential to be a scientist anyway!). However, I went through a lot of different phases of trying to decide what I wanted to be throughout school. When I started secondary school, I was convinced that I was going to be an author and write fiction books. When I was starting my GCSEs, I thought I wanted to be a graphic designer – I applied to lots of work experience placements to do graphic design but didn’t hear back from any of them and ended up working at the Met Office instead. When I was working there, I did some research into different types of weather measurement devices which I really enjoyed. I enjoyed my time so much that I nearly studied meteorology at university!

      Although what I thought I wanted to be changed a lot for me over time, I always really enjoyed science and maths lessons so kept them up all the way through until the end of my A-Levels. It wasn’t until I had to apply to university that I actually chose to do physics – but thankfully I wouldn’t have chosen it any other way looking back now! So don’t worry if you have no idea what you want to be or do – it’s natural for it to change a lot over time 🙂

    • Photo: Harrison Prosper

      Harrison Prosper answered on 10 Jun 2019:


      No! But from age 13, I have always been interested in science. I don’t think I actually thought of being a scientist until my late teens. It was not so much that one day I thought to myself: “I want to be scientist”. It really was more the case that I just wanted to do science.

    • Photo: Edoardo Vescovi

      Edoardo Vescovi answered on 10 Jun 2019:


      Not really. It has become clearer at each “bifurcation” on the way there.

      At first, I didn’t have a clear picture of what a scientist does, nor an idea of the many types of scientists. I felt comfortable with electric cables, construction toys and computers. I choose to attend a high school with focus on science. It gave time to see that physics was what I wanted to study at the university. But still, there are many things you can do afterwards, from being a programmer to a technician and so on. It was in the last 1-2 years of university that I spent my energy to get into science as a researcher. Speaking with professors was the last step to take a decision.

    • Photo: Lucy Budge

      Lucy Budge answered on 11 Jun 2019:


      Yes! Even when I was about 6 I really enjoyed science lessons, and especially maths so I always wanted to do something after school that involved science or maths.

    • Photo: Philippe Gambron

      Philippe Gambron answered on 12 Jun 2019:


      I have always been curious about the world but I cannot say I have always wanted to be a scientist. But it’s a nice path if you are curious about Nature and it also gives you the possibility to have a nice job.

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