• Question: What makes u a good scientist

    Asked by fin09 to Ben, Jony, Katharine, Mark, Peter on 17 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 15 Nov 2011:

      I can’t claim to be a good scientist, I would have to let you talk to some references to see what they say.

      I think what makes a good scientist though is all about the way of thinking; logical, inquisitive and enjoy solving problems. A good scientist is also their own biggest critic, constantly questioning if they have done things correctly in the pursuit of truth.

    • Photo: Mark Basham

      Mark Basham answered on 15 Nov 2011:

      Hi fin09

      For me the main thing for being a good scientist is to keep an open mind, Its always important to be able to look at both sides of an argument and have a good reason for picking one side or the other.

    • Photo: Katharine Schofield

      Katharine Schofield answered on 15 Nov 2011:

      I dunno if I was ever a good scientist! I did my best. 🙂 I completely agree with Ben and Mark about what it takes to be a good scientist – being logical, open minded and curious are really important.

      Nowadays I don’t do physics research myself, I work on the funding side. We get money from the Government and then they let us decide how best to spend it. Then we report back to them every few years and they decide how much we should get for the next few. It gets really hard sometimes because there are so many good research projects out there and only so much money. We look at things like how exciting the project is scientifically, whether it’s competitive internationally (i.e. is someone else going to get there first?) and a whole bunch of other criteria to help us decide.

    • Photo: Peter Williams

      Peter Williams answered on 17 Nov 2011:

      A good scientist will be quick to say they are wrong and alter their view when presented with new evidence.
      Do I do this – well, I try.

Comments