If you want to become a scientist, first start to think like one
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Leif Sieben |
TEDxYouth@Basel
• April 2022
Science can seem impossibly complex, but the best science is often about simple ideas. The biggest leaps in the history of science were made while trying to reduce complexity and the most succesful scientific theories are those that are easy to use. Today, science spans everything from the tiniest to the gargantuan, from the obscure to the life-saving. But what all scientists share in common is a certain set of intellectual tools, a particular way to approach the world that allows science to pervade even the most puzzling problems. This is what empowers scientists to answer questions and provide solutions that other people might have thought of as impossible. But no problem is unsolvable if you know how to think about it. Science is a way of thinking! Nineteen-year-old Leif Sieben had to learn this (and possibly some other things) while taking up his studies in physical and biological chemistry at ETH Zürich. He eventually ended up believing in it himself and thinks this is a lesson to take for everyone - scientist or not.