• Question: what age did you become a scientist

    Asked by anon-280685 on 4 Mar 2021. This question was also asked by anon-288219, anon-290492, anon-290489, anon-290851.
    • Photo: Nicola Morrice

      Nicola Morrice answered on 4 Mar 2021:

      I started my first real science job, which was my PhD, when I was 24. My PhD was what is called a postgraduate degree- so I went to university for 4 years before this and studied Biochemistry then moved to another university to do my PhD and that’s where I learned to do all the experiments that I do in the job I have now.

    • Photo: Jess Buddle

      Jess Buddle answered on 10 Mar 2021:

      Hey! I graduated uni and started my first microbiology job when i was 21.

    • Photo: Jo Brodie

      Jo Brodie answered on 11 Mar 2021:

      I was 23 when I finished my studies and started working in a lab as a scientist and I was 33 when I decided to become a science communicator, which I’ve been doing ever since (I’m nearly 51 years old now). After leaving school at 18 I had another go at getting a better grade in Biology A level (I had to re-sit the exam!) before getting into the University I wanted to go to (Leicester University), then after that between age 22 and 23 I did a Masters degree in neuroscience in London.
      ~
      The 10 years I spent working in a lab were fun and rewarding but I began to realise how much more I enjoyed talking about science and writing about it, though I do miss lab life every now and again. I’ve had a nice time working outside the lab including at Diabetes UK where I answered science questions about diabetes, and now (working at Queen Mary University of London) where I write about computing topics, and often the links between computing and other things.
      ~
      Jo

    • Photo: Karen Burstow

      Karen Burstow answered on 11 Mar 2021:

      I started my first (and current) job as a scientist in a Microscopy lab when I was 22 🙂

    • Photo: Tim Burrow

      Tim Burrow answered on 21 Mar 2021:

      I would say 24, that is when I started my PhD

Comments

  • Photo: Mark

    Mark commented on :

    Good question… I’m not sure when I started to think of myself as a scientist. I did a science degree at university, but wouldn’t have called myself a scientist at that point. Probably around the time I graduated from university and started my first job was when I “became” a scientist, and I was 22.

  • Photo: Felicity

    Felicity commented on :

    Hi Harrison, it depends at what stage you consider yourself a scientist. I have felt like a scientist since I started my Biology degree at University. I’m now in the first year of my PhD so that would make 5 years 🙂

  • Photo: Chris

    Chris commented on :

    As soon as you start to question the world around you you can start calling yourself a scientist, so in that sense I’ve been a scientist since I was a kid! I finished university when I was 21 and then went onto start my PhD soon after, so you could probably say that’s when I *really* because a scientist