• Question: What did you want to be when you were younger did you always want to be a scientist?

    Asked by clarkemv01 to Liz, Amelia, Jim, Prateek, Richard on 18 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by fatty31115, blueskittles96, alizahidriskhan, 08ahorner2011, charleypoolton.
    • Photo: Lizzard O'Day

      Lizzard O'Day answered on 13 Jun 2011:


      Since the 7th grade I’ve been saying I want to be a scientist- no idea where I first heard that word but it stuck. I was your typical over-achiever and did well in school. However, science class I always found exciting and I didn’t mind doing the work, it was actually fun. And now that’s my life. I also had aspirations of being a professional soccer player (sorry football to you guys) and I used to day dream about being a fashion designer too. I play “football” with my friends for fun and just to give it a go I also recently started my own fashion company- Lizzard Fashion- where I get to be a scientist and a fashion designer!

      *If you don’t know what you want to be right now- don’t worry at all. Figure out what you love and try everything!

    • Photo: Amelia Markey

      Amelia Markey answered on 17 Jun 2011:


      No I always wanted to be a vet. I love animals and I thought a job as a vet was what really interested me. I did all the hard work, got the grades and the work experience, went to vet school and then discovered that I really didn’t enjoy living in London.

      It was a tough decision but I left because I wasn’t happy. So I went to do a Biology degree at Lancaster because I always loved Biology and was always good at it. Then I fell in love with science and research and I’ve never looked back 🙂

      So don’t worry if you’re not sure what you want to do or things don’t go to plan, as long as you work hard and do the things you enjoy!

    • Photo: Jim Caryl

      Jim Caryl answered on 18 Jun 2011:


      I always liked science, and was fascinated by the world around me. I was the kid with the ton of space books and other science fact books around my bed, and pictures of the solar system and star charts on my wall. I’m not sure I really decided to actually become a scientist until after my GCSEs though, or at least, certainly not a bacterial geneticist (I wouldn’t have even known what one of those was). I would have been content to be an archaeologist and go on adventurous digs for ancient civilisations around the world.

      You never know what you might become, so keep your options open, try many different things, and see which thing most inspires you 😉

    • Photo: Richard Badge

      Richard Badge answered on 18 Jun 2011:


      I wanted to be a pilot when I was really young (read too many Biggles books!), but am a bit colour blind (which is genetic) so that was ruled out…

      My mum was a lab technician in the local hospital and did a lot of scientific tests in her job. While I didn’t know much about it then, I guess some of this might have influenced me.

      I think the main motivation for me was that I always liked finding how things worked usually by taking them apart! – I once took apart an antique telescope, decided that the insides was all dirty and so cleaned it… I then discovered that telescopes are black inside so that they don’t bounce light around inside – the telescope was ruined, I was in a lot of trouble, but I learned something about the science of optics!

      When I discovered that you coudl have a job finding out how things worked, and that you could do it for biological organisms I was hooked and became a biologist!

Comments