Question: what are the main responsibilities of being a scientist?

Chris Cooper answered on 16 Mar 2010:

I am pretty clear on this.

In nearly everything scientists have the same responsibilities as everyone else in life – no more no less. They have no special responsibility. They should march against war, march for war, vote UKIP, vote Communist, campaign for new runways, campaign against new runways – whatever normal people do.

BUT – the big but …,….

In science itself there is a clear ethical responsibility to be honest about your data and publish it in a way that someone can repeat it and test whether you are right or wrong. That is why science is the only human activity that is progressive. We have a more correct view of the world now than we did 10 years ago and a much more correct view than 100 years ago. This is not true for arts, literature and social science.