It's upsetting to me how society likes to pigeon-hole scientists, like we're all expected to exhibit particular qualities. The TV show "The Big Bang Theory" springs to mind, and it repulses me. It's about as mindless of a show as you can create. If you meet me and inquire as to my profession, and then ask if I watch the show, I've already formed an unfavorable opinion of you. Hell, I don't even have TV. I work with plenty of other scientists who exhibit none of the "stereotypical" geeky behavior. There are a few who have some social awkwardness, but it's the exception rather than the rule. Also, glad to see another physicist (I think?) on Hubski. :)
Neurobiologist in training. If anyone says 'Oh, like Mayim Bialik!', I will splash them with capsaicin. SUCK ON THAT, TRPV1 RECEPTORS My mom likes The Big Bang Theory, actually, despite the fact that she fully acknowledges it's a sort of scientist blackface (she likes it for other reasons, and has complained about how it typifies scientists - she's not one herself, she's a sociologist by training and an analyst at a biomedical granting body, but she works with people like me and she's been supportive of me from the get-go and has gotten more scientifically aware herself as she's witnessed me going through my studies). I don't know any successful scientists who exhibit any of that behavior. The only ones I've known who have were extremely unsuccessful.
I'll be stealing that phrase, thank you very much. A little jealous that your mother has some scientific literacy, I've got Southern Baptists for parents. What I do professionally is pretty much magic to them. Yep. I disagree with 8-bit somewhat, I think well-roundedness is something we should all strive for. We live in a society hell-bent on developing a specialization, but if at all possible we shouldn't write off our flaws with "Oh, I was just never good with social skills", or whatever. If you're begging for funding or presenting a thesis whilst staring down at your shoes, things aren't gonna go well. Edit: I suppose I retain my title of Hubski's only physicist... Edit 2: Nevermind!scientist blackface
I don't know any successful scientists who exhibit any of that behavior. The only ones I've known who have were extremely unsuccessful.
I hope that's actually true, but I doubt it. On the other hand, it might explain the simple brilliance of Hubski's functionality... Edit: IS MY BIAS SHOWING?!?
I'm inferring that 2 people out of 5 have PhD's in physics? Which 2?
Honestly, I expected team Hubski to be solely web designers, coders, that sort of thing. I didn't mean anything by it. :)
You have called me out explicitly, although for some reason I wasn't notified via Hubski's HTML(?) mechanics. I concede that I am only a physicist in training! My professional title is officially "scientist". I work at a non-profit research center, but I am confined to (largely) engineering-focused work, due to the fact that I've only accrued a B.S. in physics. Spent 6 years between two universities, in between switching from engineering to physics, graduated with ~165 credit hours. Single major. I'm unfortunately well edjukated. Headed to graduate school in the fall of 2015. I'll be 28, and I got 50th percentile on the Physics GRE... not bad for an American who hardly studied! I can't wait to have my ass handed to me multiple times while I pursue my thesis and work under people worth 10x my reputation. What I consider truly important is that people I've worked with enjoy my contributions and my company. Anyone can say such a thing, but I smiled smugly while I typed that last sentence. Truly, I feel like such an elitist pig sometimes... until I look at my bank account and realize that if I was actually intelligent, I would have gone into business. ...Just kidding, fuck money worship and other facades that so many other Americans wrap around their psyches. I only want to contribute towards the knowledge-base of mankind, with my sole incentive being to brag about it on Hubski. :)
oky, I can't answer for am_Unition, but 'biologist' is a title that is often accepted as early as the beginning of grad school (and is an actual government/industrial job title, as well).
I think that people need to realise at a younger age that academics (no matter how illustrious) are normal people. I've had friends who have been on field trips and were surprised to find that when the professors went to the pub after work they would talk about the weather, football, hobbies, etc. They weren't so caught up in their work that it defined every aspect of their being. If people knew that they didn't have to be some bespectacled freak of nature to work in a physics lab (and that said physics labs were not filled with such people) then they would probably find those subjects much more appealing.