• Question: What inspired you to become a scientist

    Asked by anon-269797 to Nooshin, Aishwarya, Stephanie, Sarah, Madhumeeta, Christopher, Catherine, Asia-Sophia, Ann, wajiha on 20 Nov 2020. This question was also asked by anon-269842, anon-270672, anon-270721.
    • Photo: Nooshin Ghavami

      Nooshin Ghavami answered on 20 Nov 2020:

      All my family were in the science/engineering field so there was definitely an inspiration from them. I also loved solving maths/physics problems and enjoyed it in school, therefore decided to continue studying about it!

    • Photo: Stephanie Longet

      Stephanie Longet answered on 21 Nov 2020:

      When I was a child, my mother and I had some health issues. Quickly, I wanted to help us and to help people. I wanted to discover new ways to cure people and improve their life. When I was a teenager, I discovered Immunology and Microbiology. I was fascinated by these areas. It is reason why I decided to become an immunologist specialised in infectious diseases.

    • Photo: Madhumeeta Chadha

      Madhumeeta Chadha answered on 23 Nov 2020:

      I always enjoyed biology when I was in school. I came across genetic engineering in Biotechnology-bacteria were modified to produce human insulin for diabetic patients. This drew me to research. I also love the fact that I get to contribute towards patient healthcare!

    • Photo: Ann Ager

      Ann Ager answered on 26 Nov 2020:

      When I was at school and studying science for A levels I didn’t think about becoming a scientist because, apart from being a teacher, I didn’t really know what other jobs there are for scientists. I just knew that I liked learning about how our bodies work and that led to me studying Biochemistry at University. After Uni, I knew that I didn’t want to work in an office. In the final year of Uni, I liked planning and doing experiments for my own project (a bit like cooking new things and not really knowing how they are going to turn out or taste!) and I wanted a job where I could carry on doing this. So I studied for PhD (a degree in research) and became a research scientist. My training in research gave me opportunities for many other jobs such as working in a hospital laboratory or in a drug company but I knew that I would have to work on projects that I might not really be passionate about so I decided to stay in the university or academic sector

    • Photo: Sarah Montgomery

      Sarah Montgomery answered on 26 Nov 2020:

      I was always curious and enjoyed “experiments” such as pond dipping and making things. I liked asking questions and finding out about the world, and that instinct never really disappeared as I grew up – the questions just got more difficult to answer! Luckily I did quite well in science and it seemed like a good thing to study at university. I really enjoyed my experiences of research as an undergraduate so I just carried on to where I am today!

    • Photo: Aishwarya Mishra

      Aishwarya Mishra answered on 26 Nov 2020:

      Thanks for this question. I hope my answer helps you in deciding your journey. For me, it was a mix of a few small sources of inspiration. Firstly, We had a really good chemistry teacher who always used to combine theory and experiments in a fascinating way. Secondly, I was always intrigued by the idea of experimenting and finding things and also looking at things in a different way. Thirdly, I ended up being good in science and soon realized that science will also enable me to travel the world. That’s it. All of the above and the great scientists of our generation were my inspiration.

Comments

  • Photo: Kirsty

    Kirsty commented on :

    I’m quite nosey- I just have to find out how or why something works! Being a scientist lets me do that as my job, so it was a good fit 🙂 There wasn’t 1 inspiration or even a number of inspirations for me, it just sort of happened.

  • Photo: Romain

    Romain commented on :

    For me, no-one in my family went to Uni or studied science so although my family never was against it, they never particularly encouraged me either. What motivated me was really two things: I thought it was really quite cool to know how stuff work (chemistry, physics, biology all explain to you how stuff around us and how WE work!) and I had my best grades in science, so my teachers told me I could make a career in science. You don’t need to have good grades to do a career into science but that helps realising that it’s something you could see yourself doing.