A biochemist.
It seems like scientists are generally portrayed as the stereotype of the “mad scientist”: male, glasses, lab coat, frizzy hair, etc. Just look at the Google image results for “scientist”. Do you know anyone who’s actually like that? I sure don’t. If this is the image that people have of what a scientist is, then it’s hardly surprising that we have such a disconnect in this country between what science says and how we approach important issues such as health care and the environment. If people think they can’t relate to us scientists as normal human beings, it’s difficult for them to trust our findings, and easy to write us off as “elitists” or “nerds”. How many kids forgo an interest in science because it makes them feel weird or because they don’t feel like they fall into the stereotype of what a scientist is? A while back, Fermilab asked 7th graders to draw pictures of a scientist before and after getting a tour of the facilities. The effect of simply seeing the faces behind all the research was pretty drastic.
It’s easy enough to get people to believe that science is cool (everyone likes explosions, right?), but we still have a problem getting people to believe that scientists are normal. That’s why I love this project by Allie Wilkinson and her team. It shows scientists as everyday people having fun, sporting tattoos, having families, doing cool things, and basically looking like someone kids might want to grow up to be. [Check it out!]
(All images from lookslikescience.tumblr.com)
