# How many scientists on the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195 "2000-07-28T13:36:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/1 "2000-07-28T13:36:48Z")
Maybe this isn’t the right forum for it, but I wanted to ask how many of you folks are scientists. The reason I ask is because it seems like there’s an awful lot of them around. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/2 "2000-07-28T14:25:31Z")
I’m a scientist AND an engineer.Got the sheepskins to prove it. I went to the Barbizon School of Physics – “Be a Physicist, or look just like one.” ---
**Author:** ![Fillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/3 "2000-07-28T14:48:54Z")
Soft rock geologist, checking in. Cal - how did you keep your sanity long enough to do both? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Nen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/4 "2000-07-28T14:59:22Z")
One physicist checking in (well, almost). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/5 "2000-07-28T15:39:13Z")
Sanity? We don’t need no stinking sanity. Back off,man…we’re scientists. Those scientists are all the same. They SAY they’re with us…but what they really want is to RULE THE WORLD! They all said I was mad at the University… ---
**Author:** ![orestes543](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b5e925/32.png) [@orestes543](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orestes543)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/6 "2000-07-28T15:50:52Z")
Does it count if you’re going to college? If it does, then you’ve got an in-training astrophysicist. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ce7236/32.png) [@Karen\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Too)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/7 "2000-07-28T15:58:43Z")
I’m a physicist and a penguinist. -k- ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/8 "2000-07-28T16:23:06Z")
And I’m an in-training Astromathematician. I guess that makes me a Scientist wannabe, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Grendel69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Grendel69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel69)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/9 "2000-07-28T16:26:38Z")
I’m a molecular biologist in training. ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/10 "2000-07-28T16:38:03Z")
A chemist by training right here… Not an employed chemist, but I have a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, and I’ve worked occasionally in the field (Including about a year as a mass spectrometry technician and a few months as a food scientist). So that makes me a scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Mauve\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@Mauve\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauve_Dog)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/11 "2000-07-28T20:30:04Z")
Do you have to be actively employed in a scientific field to qualify? I got my Bachelor’s from UCB in Biology, with an empahsis in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology…but I work in Data Processing 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/12 "2000-07-28T20:56:22Z")
After 2 degrees in Horticulture and 1 in Biology I call myself a plant scientist, and am employed as one as I write this (which probably isn’t such a good idea, but it’s late on a Friday afternoon). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/13 "2000-07-28T21:06:10Z")
What’s a “penguinist”? Is it legal? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/14 "2000-07-28T22:06:46Z")
Does engineering count? Because sometimes people think it doesn’t. Myself: BS-ME, but with very extensive industry and research experience. I consider myself a scientist. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/15 "2000-07-28T22:07:11Z")
Bachelor’s and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, now studying to be \ a lawyer. I write patent applications and try to keep scientists and lawyers from killing each other when they have to interact. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/16 "2000-07-28T22:29:23Z")
–B.S. in Zoology –M.S. in Marine Biology (thesis on coral reef ecology/chemical defenses) –employed as Wildlife Biologist ---
**Author:** ![herownself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8baadc/32.png) [@herownself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herownself)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/17 "2000-07-28T22:39:10Z")
MPH in Epidemiology and Maternal and Child Health PhD in Epidemiology in progress For those who aren’t familiar with my low-visibility field: MPH = Master of Public Health Epidemiology: think epidemics, not skin 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/18 "2000-07-28T22:58:17Z")
I’m working on it - geneticist in training. Anyone wanna hire me? ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/19 "2000-07-29T01:23:04Z")
I went to grad school for something we called “biophysical chemistry” when we weren’t calling it “physical biochemistry” or “chemical biophysics”. Obviously, we didn’t know what the hell we wanted to do. (Our joke was that we should major in the Economic and Social History of BioPhysical Chemistry as revealed through the Literature of Women and Minorities.) I still don’t what the hell I want to do. Today was actually my last day of work in the lab I was employed by. So I guess I’m not a scientist anymore. I am, however, jealous of divemaster. I’ve dabbled in marine biology and love diving. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195/20 "2000-07-29T01:34:58Z")
I guess you might call me a scientist. After my clinical training, I spent three years doing research in metabolism. Nowadays, though, I mostly teach. My research is strictly collaborative and only as a minor player. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-scientists-on-the-sdmb/27195.md?page=2)