Showing chemists have lives outside of science is inspirational

What makes a role model in chemistry? Someone to look up to and aim to be a bit more like? Is it about the chemistry profile, the vision, the courage to make great leaps forward in science? Across science journalism we love to celebrate big discoveries. We put high profile role models in front of students and the public all the time, in the media and through outreach programmes. But perhaps their status is not what we should be emphasising.

Across my teaching roles I work with students from age 12 through to postgraduate. When young people apply for degree courses their personal statements tell us about their desire to cure disease and discover the next wonder material. This is invariably what they think we want to hear. However in person, their academic and pastoral interactions tell a different story. Most aspire to a fairly ordinary scientific life. They want a job with security, a decent salary, something that will help them to build a life, buy a house, start a family. As they progress through their degrees, some become disillusioned with the subject they chose at a relatively young age and then feel like failures. Some find they no longer enjoy lab work or have found passions outside of chemistry, others feel they are simply not ‘good enough’. They want a good job, and a nice life, but not necessarily a science life.