• Question: How do you become a scientist?

    Asked by nest497raft49 to Sebastian J, Sam C, Rachel E, Penny T, Jenny Power, Violet, Fiona B, Charles D, Blair, DrAlexB on 13 Mar 2026.
    • Photo: Rachel Edwards

      Rachel Edwards answered on 13 Mar 2026:

      You ask questions about the world, and try and figure out the answers. It’s okay to get the answer wrong – we quite often do, but we do more experiments or other tests to see whether our answer was right or not, and if it wasn’t, we try again. So if you’re already asking questions about the world, you’re already a scientist.

      Science careers always need some sort of training though. That might be on the job with apprenticeships or similar, or it can be by doing degree(s) in a science subject. I have this job (academic researcher) because I did a degree in Physics, and then a PhD (doctorate).

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