Did you always want to be a scientist

Polly Keen answered on 16 Jan 2021:

No – I had no idea what I wanted to be – and still don’t! But I’ve discovered what I enjoy doing; being creative, problem solving, making new things and working with a team. And I’m curious about why things happen, why things have the properties they do, and how things are made. So being a scientist and engineer allows me to do the things I enjoy!

Amy Stockwell answered on 16 Jan 2021:

No. At primary school I wanted to be a teacher or a ballerina.
But at secondary school I found that I really enjoyed science lessons and decided to study physics, chemistry and maths at Sixth Form.
I was lucky to go on a Women in Engineering week where I learnt lots about science and engineering jobs and decided that science research was most interesting to me.
I studied chemistry at university. During my long summer holidays I did 2 internships. The first in a university lab with PhD students, which I enjoyed. The second at a paint company. I enjoyed this even more as there was an immediate real world application for the results.

I didn’t know exactly what type of thing I wanted to research. But a company gave a talk at university and gave us free chocolate, so I applied for the practice. 16 years later, I still work for them!

Graham Shields answered on 16 Jan 2021:

Yes, I think so. Except when I was five and wearing a policeman’s hat, he asked me what I wanted to be, and I said “a policeman like you” to which he replied “good lad”. I have always loved nature and the great outdoors, but also wanted to discover new things.

Stephanie Henson answered on 18 Jan 2021:

I was always curious about how things worked and was always asking ‘why’ and ‘how’. I think I drove my parents a bit nuts with it! That curiousity about the natural world led me to study science at high school and university.

Will Ingram answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Not really 🙂 Despite 4 years studying, and 5 years in industry (so almost a decade in a role as a scientist), I still don’t necessarily define myself as one. I always liked the idea of the legends of the renaissance who did a whole bunch of different careers over their life and weren’t ‘a scientist’ or ‘an artist’ or ‘an architect’ or ‘an athlete’. I currently make my living from engineering, but I love making art, music, and regularly compete as a mountain runner. Following what sparks excitement is what has always brought me some balance in life, and I know may successful engineers and scientists that do the same. My advice is to always be drawn to what fascinates you, no matter what field or discipline its in – never stop learning and being interested!

Lauren Graham answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Yes! My mum was a scientist and I always looked up to her growing up. There is even a picture of me when I was little dressed up as a scientist for Halloween. I love that science has always encouraged my curiosity and problem solving skills.

Manuel Kober-Czerny answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Hmm… well I always loved Science, that’s for sure. After my first ever chemistry class in school I was already so happy and hooked! But I also liked a lot of other stuff at that time: writing, playing the piano, gaming, history, painting. And I wasn’t sure, if I liked science enough to study it.
So, after school I went abroad for 9 months to think about something completely different. That was a lot of fun and I learned many useful things for my life.
But, after a few months I noticed that I would start reading about Science again and watch videos about difficult theories. And that’s when I realised that I wanted to be a Scientist one day!

Rachel Brackenridge answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Not at all! I also wanted to be an artist (animator). When I was choosing my subjects at school I took subjects to get into a science degree and an art degree so I could decide as late as possible. Luckily I decided to become an Earth Scientist since it lets me combine creative skills with science.

Beth Clark answered on 18 Jan 2021:

When I was at school I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to be. At one point I really wanted to be a vet, and went to work in a vets for little while which I loved, but during that I found out I was extremely allergic to cats and that kind of put me off.
I always loved science though and knew I wanted to work in something scientific.

Michael Nolan answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Like most kids of the 1980s, I wanted to be a soccer player. But I have two left feet, so I gave that up.
I discovered towards the last 2 years of school that I was good at maths, chemistry and physics, so I figured I would do something in that area and see what happens. A year in Germany during my degree showed me how you can use computers and maths to do chemistry and that’s what I have been doing since!
I still have two left feet

Freija Mendrik answered on 18 Jan 2021:

When I was little I really wanted to be a Vet because I love animals so much! But during school despite science being one of my favourite subjects I never thought I was good enough and there was a period where I was very lost on what I wanted to do. Like Will said, I love the idea of being able to do lots of different things and found it hard to pick one career path! I’ve always been creative and good at art and many people expected me to go to art school. I actually did Art, English Lit, Biology and Physics for my A-levels which is such a mix. Eventually I decided to go for marine biology as that’s what I’m most passionate about and I still get to be creative in many ways!

Savanna van Mesdag answered on 18 Jan 2021:

From before I can remember, I have loved animals. Since my initial love for animals, I have also loved nature, including other living things (such as plants and fungi!). When people asked me what I wanted to do/be when I grew up, I would almost always so I wanted to do something with/related to animals. For a while I wanted to run a safari park, for example. Interestingly enough, partly because very few of my family members are scientists, I didn’t really know that I wanted to be a scientist back then! Science scared me to a certain extent, partly because I thought I wasn’t very good at maths and I was told you had to do a *lot* of maths as a scientst. I’ve since learnt that many of my worries and concerns were unneeded! Yes, many scientists do need to know a lot of maths, but there are many, *many* others who don’t! Sometimes you might only need to be good at some maths/parts of maths, sometimes you don’t really need to know maths at all (but it’s still good to do your best at maths in school, it’s useful for many jobs/careers). I myself realised that I wasn’t as bad at maths as I thad hought and I worked on my strengths, not just in maths, but in other subject areas. I did have to study a lot of areas of science that I wasn’t so fond of at university, but, for the most part, once I had done my ‘school qualifications’, I was able to learn how to be a natural scientist as I had dreamed when I was younger. What I’m doing now is a bit different from anything I’d imagined doing when I was a child, but I really, *really* enjoy it. Along the way to this point, I’ve focussed a lot of time on learning about my strengths and weaknesses and working to make my strengths even stronger!

Becky Greaves answered on 18 Jan 2021:

Great question – I always knew that I enjoyed science & enjoyed finding solutions to problems. I remember when I was about 10 I had a really tricky puzzle to work out for homework. I couldn’t do it but carried on working on it all weekend & eventually found the solution. My Dad says that was the point he thought I’d become a Scientist or an Engineer. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but studied science at school, college & then university as I really enjoyed it. I think enjoying what you do is really important

Helena Brown answered on 19 Jan 2021:

I always knew I wanted to do a job which was varied, practical and interesting. I also really enjoyed Science and Maths at school so being a technician was the perfect combination of both.

Question: Did you always want to be a scientist

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