• Question: What inspired you to be a scientist?

    Asked by jftaylor to Greg, Cassie, Karen, Sofia, Tommy on 7 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by drobaj1, benplummer, ccooper, sgarvey, jrourke, fraybaybo22, anon-38473, epicshelby.
    • Photo: Thomas Doherty-Bone

      Thomas Doherty-Bone answered on 7 Nov 2013:

      Lots of things, but for me I think it came out of a frustration to adequately address questions relating to appropriate management of animals in zoos. I was a zoo keeper, and my senior colleagues were struggling to work out how best to look after their animals, and why they were looking after them in the first place. As I travelled more, saw the world, I realised the ills of the world were all (and ARE) addressed by scientific inquiry and reasoning. This realization was nudged a lot by my science teachers at school, meeting other scientists, seeing solutions to problems using science. And there was also the Ghostbusters – most of them had PhDs!

    • Photo: Cassandra Raby

      Cassandra Raby answered on 9 Nov 2013:

      Well I didn’t really know anyone else who was a scientist, and so I think I was inspired through watching tv!

      There are always programmes about nature and what new things have been discovered, or what species might be close to extinction! Finding out how amazing the world is, and that we need to know even more about it, made me want to be a part of that.
      Disease is so important, and sometimes it is the reason why animals are in danger of going extinct (no more red squirrels in England? That’s because of disease…), so it’s such an important area to study.

      I guess I just wanted to discover the world, and help us all learn more about it, so that we can do something to help…

    • Photo: Karen Bacon

      Karen Bacon answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      I have always been interested in the natural world, biology in particular. I am generally pretty curious too. When I was a child, I loved helping my mum in the garden and was really interested in plants and animals and space stuff.
      Once I started studying science in school I was hooked. I also enjoyed science fiction and that further encouraged me to want to be a scientist. I wouldn’t say that there was anything particular that inspired me other than my general interest in how the world works and the encouragement of my parents to pursue the things that interested me.

    • Photo: Sofia Franco

      Sofia Franco answered on 12 Nov 2013:

      Difficult question…but I guess the BBC shows on wildlife helped a loooot! I used to love to see how the animals lived and learn about strange different species…and I was fascinated by the exploring the natural world! This is what I wanted to do: be out in nature looking to solve the mysteries of the unknown! It does sound a bit crazy in writing 🙂 but I always loved the Indiana Jones feeling of it, mixed with Tarzan’s lifestyle! For me, this is what I imagined it was being a scientist: going in the discovery, just me and the natural world!

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