• Question: What do you think makes a good scientist?

    Asked by anon-193440 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 6 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      I think a good scientist needs to be:
      1) Curious – we need people to come up with research ideas
      2) Logical – we need people who can figure out how to research these ideas
      3) Good at communicating – we need people can communicate the results of the research to people with no technical understanding
      A passion for science and willingness to learn also helps!

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      I think Emma has covered this really well in her answer.
      The most important aspect is having an inquiring mind, wanting to know how things work, what causes things to happen etc.
      I would also add patience as good science often involves a lot of hard work before you get answers and discoveries. Things often go wrong and rarely work first time, but peoples perseverance (sticking to the task and working around the problems) is usually rewarded.

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      This is such a good question! The answers that Emma and Iain gave are brilliant too – the only thing I would add to their answers would be resilience. A lot of science is about working with other people to make a project as good as it can be, and sometimes that means getting feedback from people that might make you feel like you haven’t done a good job. That’s usually not the case though; we’re all trying to do better all of the time, and being able to handle change and tough comments is all part of the process.

    • Photo: Carl Heron

      Carl Heron answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Brilliant answer Emma!

      The only point I would add is teamwork……the big questions and challenges need many scientists, often with different skills working together.

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