• Question: Did anybody encourage you in becoming a scientist?

    Asked by rushen to Alice JB, Andy, Barbara, James, Jo on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Andy Norton

      Andy Norton answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I always quite fancied being a scientist. My Dad used to work for a company making various margarines, spreads, and things like that, and I used to visit his work as a kid. He used to give us a lab coat, a pair of googles, and we used to try and “help” him in the lab (I think that just made a mess!). I always thought that science was pretty cool, and seemed very glamorous to walk around in a lab coat. So my family encouraged me to work hard if I wanted to become a scientist. My teachers also encouraged me in that way, and helped me to work hard and work towards that goal. Friends helped too, which was nice. So, yes, a lot of people encouraged me and helped me on the way.

    • Photo: James Jennings

      James Jennings answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I am from a family of non-scientists, a bit of a black sheep! However, I’ve always had support from my family in my decision to study science. I also got plenty of encouragement from teachers I have had over the years. Firstly at school, then college, and finally at university. I would say that it was my teacher at college that got me into chemistry, and he supported me in my decision to choose it at university. I must go back and thank him some day!

    • Photo: Alice Jones Bartoli

      Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      This is a great question… I was always encouraged to study English and Languages at school – that’s what I was best at. No-one really imagined that I was terribly good at science, and I’m a little bit sad about that. I don’t want to think that it’s because I was a girl who was good at writing stories, but I think that might have been part of it.

      The people who have inspired and encouraged me most are my sixth form Psychology teacher, Kris, my supervisor during my year-long work experience, Kate, and my PhD supervisors, Essi and Frankie. All of these women have taught me that it’s possible to do very well in a science career, and that it’s possible to strike a balance between your work and the rest of your life. My parents and my nan particularly always told me that I could do whatever I wanted – and having that sort of support is really great too.

      It’s interesting to think though, that if you compare my brother and I – he was the one who was good at maths and science, and I was the english/languages student – he’s now training to be a journalist and I’m the scientist.

    • Photo: Barbara Guinn

      Barbara Guinn answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Not while I was at High School. I had one chemistry, one biology and one physics teacher who were each amazing (and one of each who I didn’t really enjoy lessons with as much). Those science teachers who were great, made me enjoy the subject more but they never encouraged me to be a scientist and I didn’t know any scientists until I went to University. I just knew I loved medicine and how the human body works so it’s not surprising that’s what I work on now.

    • Photo: Jo Hulsmans

      Jo Hulsmans answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I always was interested in science, my mother works in a library and she would bring me books about science every week, and my father is a teacher so they have always been very supportive. Neither of them is very good at science though, my mother is afraid of mathematics and my father is not much better :).

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