• Question: Do any scientists inspire you?

    Asked by anon-232564 to Mark, Liam, Laura, Kasia, Gina, Felix on 18 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Liam Gaffney

      Liam Gaffney answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      Pretty much all of them. I work with so many awesome people who keep me interested and working hard on new topics.

      Of famous scientists, Jocelyn Bell Burnell was only a student when she discovered pulsars, stars that shine brightly in a regular beeping pattern. Last year she won a £2.3 million prize for her work and donated all of it to promoting and helping women, under-represented ethnic minority and refugee students to become physics researchers. She’s very passionate and believes everybody can fulfil their potential!

    • Photo: Mark Johnson

      Mark Johnson answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      Definitely! It would be easy to answer this question by saying that I’m inspired by lots of famous, Nobel-prize winning scientists. In reality though, there are lots of less well-known scientists who I find way more inspiring… I get to work with some of them every day!

      I work in a lab where six teams of researchers work on similar projects side-by-side, so there’s often a lot of competition to get the best results first. I’ve always found it inspiring to see the innovative methods that the other groups come up with. Liam has beaten me to it, but scientists who fight to promote equality in science (like Jocelyn Bell Burnell) are great role models, too!

    • Photo: Laura Sinclair

      Laura Sinclair answered on 20 Nov 2019:

      So many of my friends colleagues inspire me, they have such a passion for science. Everyone I work with has their own interests and strengths so you can draw a lot from them.

      Liam and Mark have answered this question so well! They make some great points.

      I do have a special spot for Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s a physicist and a former wrestler too

    • Photo: Kasia Clarke

      Kasia Clarke answered on 20 Nov 2019:

      I was inspired to do Earth Science at uni when I was back in school by a TV show on the BBC which was presented by a geologist Dr Iain Stewart and it was those shows ‘Earth: the power of the planet’ which showed him travel the world to volcanoes and glaciers and I thought I’d really love to travel to those places and do that kind of science. If travel interests you, geology is a great subject for some expedition field trips.

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