• Question: Have you faced a lot of adversity in your work? What is the biggest argument you've had about science?

    Asked by Kate to Sam on 14 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Sam Briggs

      Sam Briggs answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hi Kate,

      Great questions, I’ll do my best to give you short answers!

      There is a fair amount of adversity in getting into the scientists, there are an awful lot of facts and figures telling you all the time how few people go into academia or go on to be Professors but I’ve found the trick to be just to get on with your work and show people around you that you l;over it and being open about where to go next. The field is so competitive and as with most things in life there is always someone who is willing to go that extra mile where you might not have the time or energy too! But being flexible is good in its own right, it means you might go in directions you never thought possible and work on things you never dreamt that you would!

      The worst argument I had in science was about the moon landings in 1969 and whether they happened or not! My colleague said that they thought the evidence was fudged and I said that if they thought that that was the case then it threw all sorts of historical events into disrepute and not just the moon landings – fine if you want to have a healthy scepticism about everything but you don’t get to cherry pick if you use that line of reasoning, in effect doubting everything!

      Hope that helps?

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