• Question: What is the most boring thing to become a scientist and after being a scientist?

    Asked by aikira to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Laurel, Maria on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by chantellerose, beeobrien, petrosthegreekgod.
    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hmm..to be honest LOTS of it is boring… I would be telling porkies otherwise. A colleague once said to me that the difference between those who have succesful jobs and those who don’t, is how well you cope with the boring parts of your job! So, there is lots of reading, lots of failed experiments, and lots of grant rejections. It is all worthwhile in the end of course, and when it works it is really great, but it isn’t all fun and giggles… I wouldn’t change it though – I think I have a great job!

    • Photo: Laurel Fogarty

      Laurel Fogarty answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      The most boring thing on the way to being a scientist is maybe having to take some subjects that you are not very interested in, but I think you have to do this in any university course to get any degree. Also it is amazing how useful even the things you thought you would never need are when you start doing research.

      The most boring thing at the moment for me is waiting for my computer to run my models. I have a very powerful computer in the lab but I also have very complicated models! waiting can sometimes be hours or even weeks (one ran for a couple of months last year). This week I am less bored because I have some great questions to answer while I am waiting 🙂

    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      I guess the most boring thing about being a scientist is being in the lab alone and having long, tedious experiments to work on. I’ve also done work in a synchrotron (a small type of particle accelerator that creates lots of really bright X-rays) and I had to work through the night and doing really fiddly work with an very expensive machine at 4am is never fun! If I wasn’t a scientist I guess the most boring type of job I could have would be to work in an office 9 to 5 with no really interesting things to think about.

    • Photo: Betul Arslan

      Betul Arslan answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Trying to solve a problem may get very frustrating at times, but boring-wise, some old scientists are boring actually, they still carry the head of 60s and they make scientific environment boring too. Luckily one by one they are retiring and we are taking over 🙂

      Another boring part might be a must-do-but-not-really-want-to type of experiment. You know you need it but you also hate it, so what you have to do is to go for it but not always easy.

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