• Question: what made you become a scientist instead of an explorer

    Asked by anon-177017 to Andrew, Becky, Daniel, Helen, Nicola on 11 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Becky Thomas

      Becky Thomas answered on 11 Jun 2018:

      I actually dreamed of being an explorer when I was younger… I wanted to travel the world finding new species! Explorers are scientists really though, perhaps just with a little more freedom!! I haven’t yet found a new species, but I definitely do a lot of exploring still in my job.

    • Photo: Daniel Marsh

      Daniel Marsh answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      I would love to have been an explorer but sadly there isn’t quite as much demand for them nowdays as there was during the Victorian era when we travelled around the world and tried to be the first to discover everything. I love the advert supposedly placed by a famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton, to recruit a crew for his voyage on the Endurance in 1915:

      Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success!

      Do you think that you would have applied?

      As scientists we are all still exploring in some ways but we are now trying to better understand the world that we live in and find ways to make it better!

    • Photo: Helen Littler

      Helen Littler answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      I think you’d need to be very adventurous which I am not. Also many countries have very meat based diets so as a vegetarian I would struggle.

    • Photo: Andrew Singer

      Andrew Singer answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      They are the same thing: scientist = explorer. Two for the price of one!

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