How did you get into science?
Are you doing what you first planned to do?
Which scientific question would you like to answer?
You can answer these questions and more (see below), as well as read other scientists' answers, as part of the 'A Scientist a Day' project, a labor of love from two German scientist-communicators.
Ulrike Brandt-Bohne and Felix Bohne are inviting scientists to answer a handful of provocative questions about their origins, dreams, careers, and role models. They will publish one scientist's answers every day, starting April 1 and continuing until they have run out of entries. The first batch come from all over the world, Brandt-Bohne notes.
"A good friend who studied with us is now in Saudi Arabia," Brandt-Bohne wrote in an e-mail to Science Careers, by way of a sneak preview. "He laughed when I asked, 'Are you working where you first planned to be?' since he never expected that his path would lead from university towards industry (he had been working for Craig Venter) back to the basic science. And he never expected that his science and great success would take place at KAUST University in the desert."
Science communicators will also be featured, including "a well known science communicator from German TV, who decided actively after his physics study to go into communication, even though he had good offers from the science world." Brandt-Bohne and Bohne also plan to profile some famous scientists from history as part of the project.
Brandt-Bohne is a scientist by training who now works as a freelancer in German TV, film, Web, and print media. Bohne is an immunologist/virologist at the Technische Universität München. They are married and run a Web site, 'Science Meets Society,' where this project will appear. So far, their efforts are unpaid, though they would love to find funding "so we can give prizes to participating guest writers."
Would-be participants should submit (to info@science-meets-society.com) their name, age, sex, current activity or employment, and answers to some or all of these questions:
1. How did you get to science - the origins?
2. Are you (doing/working) where you first planned to be? Where are you now and why?
3. Which is your biggest scientific achievement?
4. What is, in your opinion, THE biggest scientific achievement/novelty?
5. Who is (to you) the greatest Scientist?
6. Which scientific question would you like to be answered?
7. Which organism/disease/pathway/formula/phenomenon would you like to have named and which name would you have chosen?
8. What should be different in Science?
9. How does (to you) the Science of the future look like?
10. What was/is the biggest mistake/deficit in Science?
You can submit information about a friend or colleague if you prefer, with the person's permission.
The couple can handle submissions in English, Spanish, and German. The submissions will be published in the original language as well as translated into German. More information can be found on the Web site.
We'll be keeping an eye on this, too, for interesting career paths and issues!
