• Question: Did u ever want to be a scientist as a child

    Asked by anon-357526 on 15 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-357543, anon-360964, anon-351138.
    • Photo: Andrew Wood

      Andrew Wood answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      Great question! When I was younger I wasn’t really that sure what I wanted to be. I was always quite inquisitive and curious about everything, and so that led me to ask more and more questions especially about the natural world. The only way I found to answer them was to go deeper and deeper into the science, and then I sort of became a scientist that way!

    • Photo: Martin Vickers

      Martin Vickers answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      As a child I actually wanted to be a police officer. It wasn’t until I was at university that I realised that becoming a scientist was an option.

    • Photo: Alexandra Milliken

      Alexandra Milliken answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      I have loved science since I can remember. I wanted to mix chemicals and make my own potions. I wanted to explore woodlands to find new creatures. I wanted to find everything magical !

      But as I got to year 10, I had no idea what I wanted to do. One day I wanted to be a crime scene investigator (like CSI), other times I wanted to look at volcanoes and sometimes I wanted to be an artist (although I couldn’t draw).

      My curiosity into the magical world (especially harry potter and mandrakes) pulled me back into wanting to study about everything around me, how plants are the magic we have in the world and eventually to how can we utilise these amazing “creatures” to help future food and fuel supplies.

    • Photo: Sharon Mithoe

      Sharon Mithoe answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      Hi – that is a very nice question. I wanted to be a lot of things when I was young- a stewardess, a cook, working in a garden center and in a library. Both my dad and grandmother loved nature and animals. I loved talking to them – my grandmother had beautiful roses and was always trying to get new colors, and I became more and more interested. I made a career of something I really like to do.

    • Photo: Phil Howell

      Phil Howell answered on 16 Mar 2023:

      Yes, but without realising it I think. I wanted to be able to ask questions about the world and find out the answers. That’s what scientists do!

    • Photo: Annis Richardson

      Annis Richardson answered on 16 Mar 2023:

      No, I didn’t know it was a job!
      I thought about being a doctor, a vet, a chef…. To be honest I didn’t have a job in mind until I started my PhD!

    • Photo: Caroline Stone

      Caroline Stone answered on 16 Mar 2023:

      I definitely did want to be a scientist because I love finding out how things work. But it wasn’t until I was in university that I realised just how many scientific jobs are outside of “academia”. When I was younger, I thought the only option was to be a scientist in a lab in university doing experiments, but actually there are so many scientific jobs outside of that.

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