• Question: do you believe passion is driven by insparation, and how does this effect your science?

    Asked by jessicabubbles to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Hi jessicabubbles

      I believe that to some extent passion can be driven by inspiration. I think that being passionate can affect your science. A career in science can be tough so I think it is important to remain passionate in order to keep going and to brush off the rubbish stuff that happens.

    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      I think they probably co-exist, people are usually inspired by things that they are passionate about, they are also passionate about things that inspire them!

      Within science a balance has to be struck between being passionate and being impartial. It’s great to be passionate about your work and it will make you work harder, but when it comes to assessing evidence a good scientist needs to put aside their personal feelings and make a judgement based only on the evidence available.

      For example, just because you want your experiment to produce the results that your theory predicts, doesn’t necessarily mean that it will!

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      It’s easier to be passionate about something if you’re inspired by it! I’m not inspired by my creatures, but I am passionate about them. But I AM inspired by other great scientists in my field who have discovered amazing new things.. which makes me more passionate about my work, and try harder to find new things!

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