• Question: Would you like to be famous??

    Asked by sweetdisposition to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 21 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Murray Collins

      Murray Collins answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hi – I wouldn’t want to be famous for being famous! However one day in the future it would be fantastic to be well known for my work. I also think it is really important for scientists to communicate what you are researching to people not working in science, to talk about why what we are doing is worthwhile and important. Doing things like this, IAS, are one way to do that.

      Bye!

    • Photo: Diana Drennan

      Diana Drennan answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Nope. Absolutely not. I look at how the press and public treats famous people and I am SO glad I’m not one of them. Famous scientists aren’t as pressured as famous movie stars, but they are still “under the microscope”. I want to do enough good work that I’m known and respected in my field, but not famous.

    • Photo: Alan Winfield

      Alan Winfield answered on 19 Mar 2011:

      If I’m honest I would have to say yes – maybe just a little bit famous. But (there’s always a but) – I wouldn’t want to be famous for anything. So, I hear you say, what would you like to be famous for? Let me think about this a bit more and get back to you:-)

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      No I wouldn’t, I’d rather work quietly in the background. I wouldn’t like to do what Brian Cox does because he is probably so busy with being on TV that he hardly gets to do any real science! If I discovered something amazing I probably wouldn’t want people to know it was me!

    • Photo: Caspar Addyman

      Caspar Addyman answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      That’s a good question! I wouldn’t want to be on television because that seems rather terrifying and Brian Cox, Robert Winston and David Attenborough seem to be doing just fine for us. I would be pleased if some of my research made me (a little bit) famous but that won’t ever happen because all my research is quite specialised and so it’s likely that only other developmental psychologists will hear about it.

      Mind you, you never can tell what might happen in science. A friend of mine did an experiment to see if dogs could catch yawns from humans, just like humans do. (if someone yawns in a room you can bet a few other people will too.) No-one knows exactly why. Then my friend Rami tested dogs and found they caught yawns too. Which makes it even more of a mystery. The BBC and New Scientist magazine both noticed his experiment and soon he was being interviewed by TV, Radio and newspapers all over the world.

      You can see him here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7541633.stm

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