How many years does it take for you to be considered a real scientist? What are the requirements to be successful as a scientist?
From Period 5 Students in Dr. Durkin’s 10th Grade Earth Science Class
From Period 5 Students in Dr. Durkin’s 10th Grade Earth Science Class
This is a great and tricky question. A “scientist” is typically someone who has expert knowledge in a science discipline or many science disciplines. The key part is how do we know if someone is an expert. I personally think someone is a “science expert” if they can understand a science concept and communicate that understanding to others.
The most straightforward way to do this is with schooling (getting a high school degree, getting a bachelor’s of science (BS), and then possibly a master’s of science (MS) and doctorate of philosophy (PhD)). In this case, most would suggest that a scientist have at least a BS plus a little work experience, though I’ve met scientists that have high school degrees plus lots of work experience. A BS usually takes between 4-5 years of full-time schooling. After that, a MS takes between 2-3 years, and a PhD an additional 4-6 years.
So let’s say you don’t take any breaks to work along the way, after high school you would need at least 10 more years of school, meaning you would be about 28 years old by the time you’re done. If you don’t get a MS and PhD, usually you would spend more time working to gain experience. The benefit of getting a graduate degree (MS or PhD) is freedom. With a graduate degree, especially a PhD, you typically get to ask your own scientific questions and chose what you work on. Think of it as ultimate science creativity. But that doesn’t mean that somebody with a BS isn’t a scientist as well. Remember, it’s knowing a lot about science and being able to communicate that.
Now what makes a successful scientist? First, curiosity! Science is all about asking questions and answering them (even if the answer is “I don’t know”). Second, communication. Science isn’t just doing fun experiments and collecting samples; that’s just generating knowledge. The most important part is figuring out how to share that knowledge with other scientists and with the community. Usually scientists write papers/articles or give presentations. Some scientists make video games, art, poems, etc. Lastly, a successful scientist is one that can accept failure and learn from it. Lots of experiments fail. Sometimes we do a lot of work and can’t answer the question(s) we were trying to. But even failures teach us something.
Hope this helps!