Passion, dedicaiton, honesty and a clear head.

Hey setbuddiesx,
this question makes me think that you have already been thinking a lot about being a scientist!
For me there is one word that represents my attitude with work: honesty.
It could be tempting to modify some data so that you can get published more easily, but once you do that, I think morally as a scientist you are destroyed!

I think the most important quality in a scientist is curiosity. I don’t think it’s possible to be a good scientist without being fascinated by why the world is how it is!

Morally, I think the most important thing is to be honest – as lying about your research can do a lot of harm! Other than that, I think scientists should try to live by the same morals as everyone else – don’t kill people, don’t steal (especially other people’s work) and try to think of how your behaviour and your science will affect other people.

I think a scientist should be:

- Sceptical
- Open minded
- Inquisitive
- Curious
- Hard working
- Willing to perservere
- Creative
- Honest
- Self confident

and have a strong set of ethics. Science ethics (which, I suppose, brings morality to science) is extremely important, and a scientist should never ever be dishonest, or corrupt, or conduct experiments in such a way which causes unecessary suffering, and should always go through all the right procedures to ensure that their work is ethically sound.

Scientists need a lot of different qualities. Some of the most important ones, I would say, are open-mindedness, patience and inquisitiveness.