what insired you to become a scientist?

Question: what insired you to become a scientist?
- Keywords:
  inspiration
Asked by katemalteaser to Debbie, Glyn, Jon, Kat, Nicola on 15 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by katieeeeee, tst54mb.
- Jonathan Stone answered on 15 Mar 2013:
  
  Hi Kate,
  
  I was inspired to become a volcanologist after I saw Mt St Helens at the age of 5. There were millions of trees snapped in half by the eruption in 1980, and the whole area was still totally devastated when I went there in 1992. Since then…I have never wanted to do anything else. I guess I have a naturally inquisitive mind…I want to try and understand things that I see, particularly in the natural world. I am excited by being able to see a rock or a landform and being able to start unravelling its history. Science is just full of incredible opportunities to not only discover new things, but also help have a positive impact on peoples lives.
- Kathryn McMahon answered on 15 Mar 2013:
  
  Hi Kate,
  Jurassic Park!!! I’d always loved nature and biology (I had my own microscope when I was 14!), but wanted to be a vet or a doctor until I was about 15. Then I read the book of Jurassic Park. I was fascinated by the genetics that they used to clone the dinosaurs and the description of the scientists. After that I was obsessed by genetics (how genes work). When I was in sixth form I read quite a lot of science books, particularly by Richard Dawkins and Oliver Sacks, and learned as much as I could so that I could do a genetics degree. I still love genetics. I do a lot of cell biology now, but how genes control how we work will always be my favourite topic.
- Nicola Fletcher answered on 15 Mar 2013:
  
  Hi Kate,
  My high school biology teacher inspired me to become a scientist. She was a really brilliant teacher and she made me realise that the natural world is incredible and that humans are only a small part of that. David Attenborough also inspired me as I got older and I still love watching his programmes and reading his books (I wrote him a letter recently and got a letter back which was fantastic!). I studied Equine Science at Uni and my favourite part of it was the lab work, so that was something I really wanted to do when I graduated. That was also when I had the first chance to work with viruses, and I have never really wanted to do anything else since I first worked with them!
- Glyn Barrett answered on 15 Mar 2013:
  
  Hi Kate!
  
  Before I became a scientist I was working in the finance industry in a good job in the city. It was boring!!! And I felt I wasn’t contributing in any way. There were and are still so many problems in the world which need sorting out and I wasn’t doing anything about it. My job was all about my own self and how much money I could make. I hated it!!
  
  I went on a trip to Cambodia in Southeast Asia and volunteered with the Irradwaddy Dolphin Conservation Trust and helped them free dolphins trapped in fishermen nets and establish an education programme to the local people convincing them of the benefits of keeping the dolphins healthy.
  
  So I went back to university to study biology so I could work full-time in contributing towards a better future for humans and animals. I ended up doing what I do now as science is quite interconnected so if you work in one field it affects a load of others.
- Debbie Crockard answered on 17 Mar 2013:
  
  Free Willy! I went to see it in the cinema when I was 6 with my dad I told him then and there that that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. For my Christmas he signed me up to adopt a whale with the whale and dolphin conservation society – I had a killer whale called Holly. Then he helped me find out everything I needed to know about becoming a marine biologist and learned lots about it to help me.
  
  So even though Free Willy was the spark – my dad was what inspired me and kept me interested – and took me to the beach 🙂

Question: what insired you to become a scientist?

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