• Question: what is it like being a scientist?

    Asked by ❤️Caitlin❤️ to Julian, Helen, Hugh, Heather on 12 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by salsela, #Niamh #wow, Chrissypops.
    • Photo: Heather Campbell

      Heather Campbell answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      Its fun, and rewarding but can also be a lot of hard work and a bit stressful at times. Although the stress is usually self-inflicted!
      Most days are spent writing computer code to analysis data. Discussing ideas with other scientist. And then writing up results.
      Also traveling to meetings in other countries to meet with people who work on similar research, and making presentations about your work there and hearing from others about theirs.
      As an astronomy you also get to use some amazing telescopes around the world!

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I think it’s the absolute best job.. but I might be a little biased!
      We get to look at some of the most extreme phenomena in the Universe using some seriously state of the art equipment (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVCFc0ZiRt8), we get to ‘time-travel’ looking at things that happened billions of years ago, and figure out where we came from and why the Universe looks like it does. I like learning new things every day and being challenged. I think I’d just be bored if I had a ‘normal’ job.
      The travelling is also a massive perk 😉 and I work with an incredible group of people who are passionate about what they do.

    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      Its a real mix. You start of surrounded by REALLY smart people, thinking… I can’t cut this, I just don’t know enough to even understand what they are talking about.
      After a while, some of the language makes sense, and you can even follow what is being talked about.
      Gradually you learn what you are doing, you make some mistakes, you come up with your own ideas, and slowly you start to realise a lot of the people around you are just like you, but perhaps better informed and more experienced.
      At some point you find a little piece of the scientific puzzle to call your own, and for a while you probably know more about this really tiny bit of science than anyone on the planet.
      If you are good and keep at it, you might do this a few times in slightly different areas. You make a few discoveries, you add just a little to Human knowledge, and make a few more mistakes.
      Mostly, you learn an awful lot!

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