Science
What do scientists do at work?
Scientists lives are very dull and very exciting. There is lots of dull, and a small amount of exciting. Then it goes back to dull again. Unless you win the noble prize. Then you become a spokes person for the entire scientific community, and you never go back to being a scientist again.
A scientists day generally begins around 10:00am. Unless they have to teach an 8:00 class, the curse of being a scientist at a university. These classes are usually reserved for the first year instructors teaching the introductory classes. Once a scientist teaches 8:00am classes for a while he will be moved up the ladder to more leisurely classes. Therefore, a typical scientist wakes up around 10:00 and comes into the lab around 10:30.
Your typical scientist is very excited about starting a new day and anxious to get back to the problem they were working on the previous night. After sleeping on it for the last few hours a scientist may have new insight into the problem and will be anxious to test his new ideas.
Sometime around 1:00pm your typical scientist will wander down to the vending machine to eat his breakfast/lunch and drink his soda. The sugar will usually generate some new ideas and he will be anxious to get back to the problem at hand.
As a scientist works on each problem he will meticulously write about every attempt at a problem and all the parameters changed in each new study. After collecting massive amounts of data the process of data analysis begins. Data analysis consists of formulating mathematical descriptions and fitting them to the recorded data. Of course an error analysis is done to demonstrate the significance of the fit of the data to equations used to describe the data. If an equation is determined to fit the data the significance of the equation is determined. Sometimes these equations can be demonstrated to be based on fundamental principles underling the observable in the experiment.
Some of these underling principles are not easily seen, but are repeatedly put to the test in experiment after experiment. Some of these principles are: Atoms, Chemical Reactions, Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, DNAs role in sequencing proteins, Gravity, Electromagnetic Fields, Effects of Proteins in biological systems, Functions of Biological Organs, Nuclear Reactions, Molecules, ... And we could go on for quite a while.
After Breakfast/Lunch the scientist will return to the lab to try some new ideas. They will usually loose themselves in their work until about 8:00pm. At this time dinner is on the scientists mind. At this point a scientist could go home, or join a colleague for dinner. Joining a colleague for dinner usually entails bouncing ideas off each other and sharing insight into the different areas of inquiry. For the most part discusion usually remains near the field of study and rarely strays out of the department.
Depending on the sobriety of the scientist they may return back to the lab or read a technical journal in order to find out what other colleages are doing. Some time around 2:00am the scientist will retire.
This general order of things may be altered by periodic events. For example, if an abstract is submitted for a conference, then the week before the conference will contain very little sleep. Even though the very little new research will find its way into the talk, the scientist is like a gambler wanting to roll the dice just one more time before the talk in hopes of learning that big secret of the Universe.
Michael Forbush3-12-99
More Life the Universe and Everything
