Dr. Isis has an interesting post tonight, in which someone asks if s/he could become a scientist.
to my awareness, there is no mold that we scientists all come from. if there is, i must have gotten where i am by sneaking through the side door when nobody was looking.
like any profession, scientists come from all walks in life. we have our strengths and our weaknesses. we try to leverage the strengths and improve at the weaknesses. (of course, i should mention that the greatest strength is in recognizing your weaknesses.) generally, in my day to day, i see tendencies to share the traits of “enjoy science” and “crazy enough to try to make a living out of it” but beyond that… there is no checklist of what you must bring to the table or else you’re doomed to epic failure.
my training/career track did not always reflect that i was on course to become a scientist. i say, all the better for it. you are the sum of your experiences, after all.
if there are infinite walks of life that could lead one to become a scientist, i think it follows that there are infinite ways to contribute to science. science is not one single job, nor one single field, requiring one sort of scientist. but this is a recently aggravated pet peeve of mine- science is not one single sector, either. the best and brightest science is not exclusive to the hallowed labs of acadame.
