• Question: What do you think the most important quality is for someone to be a scientist?

    Asked by musicallyhappy4968 to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 26 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by leggooo.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hi musciallyhappy4968

      A great question! For me personally, I think the most important characteristic for a scientist is determination. You have to be willing to keep going and working on things even when it seems like really hard work that is taking a long time because it will be worth it in the end!

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hey musicallyhappy4968,

      I think this is a great question so thanks for asking! I think the most important quality is curiosity. To be a great scientist you need to want to understand things and piece together long and complicated pieces of evidence. If we didn’t come up with the question in the first place then we wouldn’t have any work to do!

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      I agree with Nuala, I think curiosity is probably the most important thing – you have to find new questions: why does something work the way it does? Then you go and work it out. Although I also agree with James P, sometimes working it out needs a lot of determination!

    • Photo: Gemma Purser

      Gemma Purser answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      I agree with the others on this one but I also think patience is a key quality to be a scientist. Sometimes you just have to learn to wait for things to evolve naturally. You cant have all the answers you hope to acheive in one day, like you cant aquire all the data and knowledge in an instant (especially with how long my experiments take to run!) So I think taking your time and doing a good job rather than rushing things is another part of being a good scientist.

    • Photo: Davie Galloway

      Davie Galloway answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      hi musicallyhappy,

      i have to agree with the other 4 on this one … curiosity, determination and patience are very important qualities for a scientist and i would also like to add being organised as well … i’m a bit of a messy person around the house but am very well organised at work so i can concentrate on being curious, determined and patient

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