• Question: What qualities do you think are important as people and scientists?

    Asked by Elsbeth to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 12 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by R+J?, AmazingLaura.
    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      For me, the most important qualities as people are probably honesty, fairness, patience, and a willingness to try your best at everything you do.

      I think these are also good qualities for a scientists, along with being inquisitive, logical and critical – you have to be able to criticise your own work (and that of others) to be sure that the answer that you have from an experiment is the most likely one and isn’t caused by a mistake or something you could have missed.

    • Photo: Sara Falcone

      Sara Falcone answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      To be a good scientist you need to be curious and have a looooot of patience. You also need to be humble, and be ready to take criticism. You have to try not to be too stubborn ( and assume the results are wrong in case they don’t show what you expected/wanted) but confident that you can make it. Last but not least you have to be honest ( show your results for what they are, don’t hide the ones that collide with your hypothesis).

      For me the same qualities apply to make a good person.

    • Photo: Peter Francis

      Peter Francis answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      I always try to be a person first and scientist second. I think it is important to be passionate about whatever your chosen job is and share that passion and enthusiasm to help those around you. I think it is important to always remember the bigger picture. I find my research on muscle interesting but compared to starvation in Africa or the current refugee crisis my work is pretty meaningless. Friends and family are what is important. Life is about the people you have in it not the science you have conducted.

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