• Question: why did you chose to be a scientist?

    Asked by emily to Sian, Christie, Dan, David, Dawn on 13 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by SPEC BOY, Katie xoxo, Katiexox.
    • Photo: David Robertson

      David Robertson answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      At school I was quite good at physics and maths and really enjoyed both. I started to do a joint maths+physics degree at University but found the maths too hard, so ended up just doing physics. I’ve always enjoyed trying to work out how things work and how to make them work better, so when I found a job that actually paid me to do this sort of thing I took it.

    • Photo: Dan Lewis

      Dan Lewis answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      I originally applied to university to study law and film, I had no interest in becoming a scientist at school but when I left sixth form I had been working in a pharmacy for about a year and really enjoyed learning about medications and how they affected the body. I used to be set homework as part of my training whilst I worked there and then I decided to change my career path and have never looked back since.

    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Actually, for most of high school, I wanted to be a photojournalist! But I knew I was never going to make it into the National Geographic, so I decided to study psychology instead. However, while I was taking Chemistry and Physics classes I decided I really enjoyed chemistry in particular, and conducting experiments. All the background reading I did to prepare for university applications turned out to be more neuroscience-themed (think Oliver Sacks, the late neuroscientist) which was very inspiring. It was only the summer before my UCAS applications when I decided to apply for n undergraduate neuroscience degree. Ended up loving the practical science bit – I get to do hands-on experiments which is always exciting, and I really love problem-solving which is pretty much what a scientist does all day.

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      This depends which stage you are thinking about. At school I loved science and maths – although less so physics by A level. I enrolled on a pharmacology course – and liked the biochem so much that at the end of year 1 I switched.
      More decisions in advance of my PhD enrollment but probably the most fundamental one was that academia was not for me. But science is a broad church and despite my range of science careers / experience I still consider myself a scientist 🙂 just one with a diverse range of experiences!

    • Photo: Christie Waddington

      Christie Waddington answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      I had always liked Biology and Maths at school so always thought I would pursue one of these. Initially my parents didn’t want me taking Genetics, so I studied classics in order to be an accountant. In secret, I would attend my friend’s lectures on biomedical sciences (there were 150 students, so they wouldn’t spot me!) during my classics degree. At the end of it though, I couldn’t do accountancy and had to follow what I enjoyed which was Genetics. So a direct answer would be I chose to be a scientist because that’s what I enjoyed and that’s what kept me interested – how does everything work? What do we know? What do we not know? Why do some people get genetic diseases and others don’t? So many interesting questions!

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