I love doing community outreach where I get to work closely with intuitive minds that are exploring something new. To me it’s fun to hear what “non-scientists” think or come up with, and they often ask questions that I hadn’t thought of before, or challenge me to explain things a new way. You hear some amazingly intuitive questions. Normally these questions are from the inquisitive minds of five- or six-year olds, and are along the lines of how things work and why they work that way. It gives you a chance to nourish that seed of curiosity and see where it goes, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see them again a few years later as a scientist in training.

Not all think of the science, though.

While doing a demonstration on vortexes in tornadoes while in my senior year at Purdue, one eight-year old little girl had other things on her mind. She looked me up and down as if sizing me up then said as judgementally as she could, “You don’t look like a scientist.”

Wow. I had on my normal cargo pants, department t-shirt, and work boots. Change the shirt up, and this is about what I wear to the field or working in my lab. If you looked anywhere on Purdue’s campus, you’d generally find the same dress and look going on. When not prepping for work, many of my colleagues dress in a business casual style. So, my curiosity piqued, I asked her, “What makes a scientist?”

According to this little girl, I should have frizzy hair, non-stylish glasses, I was missing a lab coat and goggles, and I dressed too normally. Google “scientist” images, and you’ll find pretty much the same thing: lab coat, chemistry gear, safety glasses, and mad scientist hair for about half the images. A good portion of them also have glasses of some sort as if we are super intellectuals. Even Lego has pigeon-holed the image of the scientist, which I suppose is pretty iconic by now.

I asked a chemistry student from the nearby tent if I could borrow a lab coat and goggles really quick, put them on, and asked her if that was better. With a critical eye that only an eight-year old could have, she said, “Almost, but why do you still look normal?”

Normal is a pretty odd thing to hear since I’ve worked with scientist across the whole spectrum of the fashion world from hipster to fashionista to the more iconic nerd. Most people I’ve worked with fall squarely on “normal”.

A half an hour later, and I had finally convinced this critical kid that scientists are normal people no matter how they are dressed, how well they can do their hair or make-up, and don’t always require a lab coat or goggles to do science. I even got her convinced that we can have families and hobbies like anyone else. This got me thinking though; what does the general public think science really is? Possibly more importantly, what do they, as well as we, think a scientist is?

Yeah, it’s a little like this.

Scientists are…

Individuals. Passionate. Inquisitive. Variable. Normal.

Our careers might take a considerable amount of thought, time and duct tape, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do other things. And, frankly, not all of us like Star Trek.

Most scientists I’ve had the pleasure of working with for any length of time are highly opinionated, well read, stubborn (though not all), and delightful conversationalists with a wide variety of topics. Some could go on movie or gaming binges for days, laughing and gorging themselves on pizza and soda, while talking about something science at the same time. You can often take hikes with scientists just as well as you can challenge them to a card game or sit around watching a football game with them.

In my 10+ years of hanging around scientists, I can only think of a handful that fit the stereotype more than a 25% of the time they are working, let alone over the course of their entire year. They might walk into a lab, toss on a labcoat, the safety gear, and get to work. And that’s it. As soon as they leave the lab, they go back to looking just like everyone else. More often they are found hunched over a computer glaring at data, shaking their heads, or chatting over a quick cup of coffee with colleagues and brainstorming a solution to a problem… just like everyone else.

Insanitek is filled with independent researchers, scientists, and inventors from every walk of life. They are not defined by the level of education, or even the path of education they’ve chosen. I’d have it no other way. All the people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with over the decades have taught me that a scientist is not made by the looks.

A scientist is made by a desire to know and the willingness to explore.

Over to you

What comes to mind when you think of the word “scientist”? What do you see when you look in the mirror?