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Asked by anon-349788 on 2 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-354395, anon-355312.
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Maryam Sani answered on 2 Mar 2023: last edited 2 Mar 2023 12:42 pm
Everything that we do or have involves science. I was really interested in colours and how mixing colourless solutions for example can form precipitates, and flame colours. Water also intrigues me especially as we can relate to it in three different states. So I became a scientist to follow my interest and find out more.
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Thomas Swift answered on 2 Mar 2023:
On my first day on the job at Dulux Paints I was asked ‘do you think you are more research or development?’.
I naively I didn’t understand the difference, I knew I’d applied for a job within the ‘R&D’ team, but no one had ever explained to me what they were. I picked ‘research’ and got a job doing blue sky ‘what can we do next’ projects, with really interesting questions and problems. It made me fall in love with the work, and after a year and a half head back to University to do a PhD, which suddenly became a lot more fun when there are no exams to worry about
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Arno Kraft answered on 2 Mar 2023: last edited 2 Mar 2023 12:19 pm
I wanted to go to University after leaving school but was still undecided what to study. Fortunately, I did not have to make up my mind straightaway. As part of a community service, I worked in a hospital for slightly over a year, which was a very useful (life) experience. It also gave me time to think what I wanted to do. I always liked science subjects at school, especially chemistry, and (wisely) decided to go for a subject at University that would be enjoyable and suit my strengths.
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Rebecca Woods answered on 2 Mar 2023:
When I was a child/teenager I wanted to be a few different things, a ballet dancer, a princess, a vet, a teacher and so on. I enjoyed science at school but didn’t think about doing it as a career. Science and maths where my best subjects at GCSE so I did them at A level (I was planning on being a vet at the time). When thinking about applying to university, I decided that I wasn’t cut out to be a vet, but I was quite interested in research, I can remember one of my science teachers inviting somebody from the nearest university to do a talk on her research (we then visited her lab and got to play with liquid nitrogen) and the idea of figuring out a scientific problem interested me. I studied chemistry/medicinal chemistry for my undergraduate degree and that included a couple of research projects. I then decided to stay on and complete a PhD and now am working as an associate lecturer in organic chemistry and trying to decide what type of science I want to do going forward (teaching or research or just finding out the scientific way to make the perfect cup of tea and scone).
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Rebecca Walker answered on 2 Mar 2023:
As a child I always enjoyed learning as many new things as possible, and I was fascinated by how and why the world worked. I originally wanted to become a medical doctor, so I knew I had to take science subjects at school to achieve this – while I ultimately decided I wouldn’t do well in medicine due to my squeamishness, I’d discovered a love for Chemistry so chose that for my university degree. The rest, as they say, is history… but now every day I’m still learning new things so my inner child is satisfied!
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Ai-Lan Lee answered on 3 Mar 2023:
It’s interesting! It was my favourite subject(s) at school, especially the practical aspect. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a lab coat. I also loved the problem solving aspect. As a research scientist now, I am discovering and learning new things all the time, so it doesn’t stop being interesting.
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Grace Roper answered on 6 Mar 2023:
I enjoyed science at school, and wanted to study chemistry at university as chemists can help to solve lots of global problems. During my degree I spent 9 months doing research in a lab, which I loved – at this point I was confident I wanted to become a research scientist.
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Jo Ellis answered on 6 Mar 2023:
Science made sense to me at school. I am dyslexic and found writing essays and words really hard and frustrating, but symbols and solving problems really suited the way my brain processes information. Different people have different strengths and science was a clear choice for me.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 17 Mar 2023:
I always enjoyed finding out how stuff worked… a 4 or 5 I took apart a light switch to see how it worked and discovered that electricity can hurt you. Science provided a foundation to drive that curiosity even further. So I guess that’s why I became a scientist…
An added question would be why did I become an academic scientist? That’s basically because I like to control my own direction in life… I don’t take being told what to do very easily. Becoming an academic scientist seemed to me the best option for me.
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Graeme Dykes answered on 24 Mar 2023:
I have always loved technology and machines. When I got to study science at school, I was excited from day one and it hasn’t changed. For me there was no choice but to pursue a career in science.
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