Question: hi, im new to this program, and i would like to ask a few questions? what parts of science are your stongest points? did you like scientist a a kid thank you for your time xx who inspired you to be a scientist?

Vicky Forster answered on 11 Nov 2013:

Hey Hannah,

I’m definitely better at biology and chemistry-based subjects than I am at physics and maths. This is a little strange, because when I was in primary school, i was definitely better at physics and maths! Overall though, i would say that my strength in being a scientist is my creativity. A big part of being a research scientist is being able to solve problems and come up with new ideas and ways of doing experiments – if research scientists are not creative, they probably won’t do very well in their jobs! However, I wish I was more organised – my desk and lab benches are a mess, whereas my colleagues are really neat and tidy (which makes me look even worse in comparison).

In answer to your second question – yes, I always liked science when I was younger. I think when you are young and discovering lots of new things, pretty much everything is a science – from developing your preferences for which food tastes good and which don’t, to learning how to balance to walk or ride a bike. When I was younger though, i wanted to be an astronaut (still kind of do), but when I got to university, I decided i wanted to be a medical research scientist.

A lot of people inspired me to become a scientist. Firstly, my parents; my dad is a scientist who researches electronics and my mum is really good at biology and trained to be a nurse – so we always did little science experiments at home, whether it was making little lights out of crocodile clips and bulbs or collecting bugs from the garden in a jar. When I was younger I was also lucky enough to meet a lady called Helen Sharman – she was the first British astronaut in space. She let me wear her jumpsuit she wore on the space station, and gave me some ‘dried’ space ice-cream! She was a great inspiration to me, as she was first a chemist, testing chocolate for mars, but then trained to be an astronaut, so she could do her experiments in space, amazing woman!