• Question: what qualties do you need to be a great scientist

    Asked by bpjh to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 21 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by laurenshep21.
    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      I think the most important quality is that you are inquisitive. You need to want to ask lots of questions about how and why things work the way they do and then want to try and resolve them. If you’ve got that, then chances are you’ll make a pretty good scientist!

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Curiosity! Science is all about asking the right questions. You start out looking at something, working out what you understand and what you don’t, then forming a question about what you don’t understand. Once you have a question you can work out how to answer it. The important part is that all science starts with a question, and to ask questions you need curiosity.

      You also need to be quite determined. I am doing a PhD at the moment. The best PhD students aren’t the smartest. They are the people who are dedicated to their work and determined to get the job done even when it’s difficult. These people enjoy their work so much that they are willing to work hard at it.

      If you are curious and get some joy out of understanding mysterious questions, you’d be a great scientist.

    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      I think another very important quality is the ability to admit defeat!

      sometimes science doesn’t give the answers you would expect, and that can be difficult for people to cope with, especially if it proves that you were wrong in some way.

      The ability to admit we are wrong about things can be very difficult to overcome, but learning how to do it will make you a great scientist indeed!

      I agree with Laura and Angus about curiosity and asking questions, those things will make you a great person as well as a scientist

      one of my favoruite sayings is

      ‘Try to know something about everything, and everything about something’

      that pretty much sums up my attitude!

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      Curiosity. Persistence. Self-motivation. A solid self-esteem. Have fun reading and writing. A supportive family. Good teachers. Lots of luck.

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