• Question: How proud of your work are you?

    Asked by ciara to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Marieke Navin

      Marieke Navin answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I’m really proud – i think you have to be proud of your work, or how would you dare show it to anyone? I bet you’re proud of your schoolwork?

    • Photo: Stephen Curry

      Stephen Curry answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hi Ciara!

      Very proud (though not *nearly* as proud as I am of my children. Best. Thing. Ever!)

      I have got a lot of satisfaction out of my work over the years. I can’t claim to have done anything earth-shattering and am not in the running for a Nobel prize or anything like that.

      But some of the work that I have done (e.g. on poliovirus and on the blood protein, human serum albumin) is now included in science textbooks. It makes me proud to think that I have contributed a little bit to the sum total of human knowledge.

    • Photo: Tom Hartley

      Tom Hartley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      When I think about it I am quite proud of my work, but I wish I could do more of the really good stuff. I feel very proud when students I have taught go on to successful careers. In my own mind I like to imagine that this is because of what I have taught them, but of course it is really mainly down to their own efforts and their other teachers.

      Unfortunately, at every stage of my career, whenever I accomplish something, I always see the next barrier in the distance, so I quite often feel inadequate (as I contemplate my new goal) rather than proud of what I’ve just achieved. This stops me enjoying life as much as I should, and I sometimes think I will never be entirely happy because I can never do well enough to achieve all my objectives. I wish it were possible to get really good at something, and then just keep doing it, but that doesn’t seem to be how it works. I am not sure if this is a problem with science or just the human condition.

    • Photo: Steve Roser

      Steve Roser answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I like my work – i feel I have done some good things, and i am really proud of teh achievements of some of my students

Comments