• Question: what does it take to be a proper scientist?

    Asked by face1opes on 2 Jul 2025.
    • Photo: Luke Norman

      Luke Norman answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      Being a proper scientist doesn’t just mean wearing a lab coat or working with chemicals — it’s more about how you think, ask questions, and try to understand the world around you. For example, I am a science communicator and despite the fact that I don’t do research, I still use scientific equipment to answer questions that fascinate me. For example, what does waterlily pollen look like? Science is always about being curious of the world around you, as long as you have that, you are a proper scientist 🙂

    • Photo: EBRAHIM SALEHI

      EBRAHIM SALEHI answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      To be a proper scientist, one needs curiosity, critical thinking, honesty, precision, and a commitment to evidence-based investigation and continuous learning.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      A willingness to understand and learn how different things work.
      You can study and get a job as a scientist or you can do it in your own time. Sometimes you can link up with organisations and be citizen scientists who help out in their spare time like helping AI identify objects from images of space or making note of when you see certain birds. The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is a good example of this, where lots of people around the UK make a survey of the birds they see in their garden.

    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      That’s a fantastic question. I think people have a very specific image of a scientist, but the reality is much more interesting. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. You have to be the most persistent.

      Being a proper scientist is a lot like being a detective, and you need three key skills to solve a case:

      You have to be nosy (in a good way!).
      A detective is always asking questions, looking under rocks, and refusing to accept a simple answer. A scientist does the same. You have to be driven by a deep curiosity to figure out the truth, even if it’s buried under a lot of confusing clues.

      You have to be incredibly stubborn.
      Imagine a detective hits a dead end. Do they just give up and go home? No! They try a new angle. They re-examine the evidence. They refuse to be beaten by the problem. Science is exactly like that. Most of your time is spent on things that don’t work. Being a scientist means having the stubbornness to keep going until you crack the case.

      You have to be honest about the clues.
      A detective can’t ignore a piece of evidence just because it doesn’t fit their favourite theory. They have to report what they find, period. This is the absolute core of science. You have to be brutally honest about your results, especially when they prove your own idea was wrong. That integrity is everything.

      Everything else, like the specific subjects you study or the instruments you use, is just details. If you have that detective’s mindset of curiosity, stubbornness, and honesty, you’re already thinking like a scientist.

    • Photo: Sophie Pain

      Sophie Pain answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      I think that the most important thing is curiosity and asking lots of questions! There are lots of different types of scientist and science jobs, and no two scientists look the same. I think science is like trying to solve a problem or a mystery – you start with a question, and then go and look for evidence or answers. You then try to join up the dots to work out what’s happening or to see the full picture.

      Asking questions like this one – and looking for answers – already makes you a scientist!

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