# Which is most impressive, being a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 16, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856 "2012-10-16T06:36:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/1 "2012-10-16T06:36:10Z")
Let’s settle the debate once and for all.
Please only link to that Mitchell and Webb clip _after_ having commented so as not to unduly influence the debate.
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### Author:  [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/2 "2012-10-16T07:08:46Z")
I hear all surgeons are douchenozzles, so rocket scientist it is.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/3 "2012-10-16T07:15:38Z")
Rocket science is pretty well understood at this point - assuming we’re actually talking about stuff like engineers that build rockets and satellites and stuff rather than someone who studies space/astrophysics/cosmology generally. It’s definitely work that requires intelligence and thoroughness - but brain surgery is crazy shit.
The human brain is far less understood, and rather than making designs on a computer, you’re in there with your hands cutting someone up. Beyond the intellectual challenges, there’s a high degree of physical grace required too. And unlike rocket science, it can be time critical - you may only have a small amount of time in surgery and you have to get it right, or you may encounter an unexpected situation and have to save the person’s life in an emergency. Rockets can fail, but rocket scientists are almost never put into a situation where they have to react immediately under so much pressure.
It’s not even close.
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### Author:  [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/4 "2012-10-16T10:24:38Z")
I know a rocket scientist, I don’t know a brain surgeon.
So I will go with rocket scientist because he is such a cool dude.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/5 "2012-10-16T10:29:53Z")
Rocket surgeon.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/6 "2012-10-16T11:02:36Z")
Rocket scientists. Hands down.
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### Author:  [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/7 "2012-10-16T11:29:18Z")
I’m related to a rocket scientist so I’ll go with brain surgeon. It seems harder. Not that building rockets and the space program isn’t cool but brain surgery seems harder to do than engineering.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/8 "2012-10-16T11:30:02Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#):
>
> I know a rocket scientist, I don’t know a brain surgeon.
> So I will go with rocket scientist because he is such a cool dude.
I vote rocket scientist also because I’m friends with one. She’s pretty cool.
Not that being a brain surgeon isn’t really impressive…
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/9 "2012-10-16T12:15:18Z")
How about a brain surgeon who specializes in treating rocket scientists.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/10 "2012-10-16T12:16:43Z")
Brain surgeon. A high school classmate of mine became a renowned brain surgeon. He was one of the smartest and nicest people I’ve ever known.
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### Author:  [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/11 "2012-10-16T12:55:49Z")
Rocket scientists are way cooler, in a nerdy kind of way, but brain surgery is more impressive.
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### Author:  [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/12 "2012-10-16T13:00:10Z")
Since I work in the medical field myself, I am acquainted with a couple of neurosurgeons (brain surgeons). Neurosurgery is one of the hardest medical specialties to get into, so they are the cream of the crop in medical school. Unlike dermatology, though, which gets the cream of the crop of med students because everyone wants the easy lifestyle that derm offers, neurosurgeons work harder than almost anyone else. When you get into a neurosurgery residency, the work hours are so brutal (even by the standards of other surgical specialties) that it is truly difficult to have a normal life or family. The surgeries they do are very delicate and time-consuming, and their patients are often truly very sick, so the hours are very irregular.
Emotionally, it’s a tough field because most of the patients they operate on are not going to be able to return to normal function - many die, and many are permanently disabled, because there’s only so much you can do after a brain tumor or injury has wiped out part of someone’s brain.
It’s a very challenging and emotionally draining in a number of ways. I give them a lot of credit. They are like the physician equivalent of Navy SEALs or something.
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/13 "2012-10-16T13:22:07Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#):
>
> I vote rocket scientist also because I’m friends with one. She’s pretty cool.
>
> Not that being a brain surgeon isn’t really impressive…
Make that three who chose it because of a personal connection. Rocket scientists are cool and she’s all around impressive 🙂
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/14 "2012-10-16T13:22:50Z")
I answered “Rocket scientist” because the question was what was most impressive, not what was harder. Sure, “hard” can be impressive, but so can “cool” or even just “geek cool”.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/15 "2012-10-16T13:29:47Z")
To a certain extent I am a rocket scientist, and I don’t impress myself with it all that much. But you really don’t want me carving up your brain, even if I’m reading from a how-to book.
Brain surgeon wins.
But nothing beats a combo of rocket scientist/brain surgeon/rock star/T-rex/ninja.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/16 "2012-10-16T14:10:36Z")
I picked brain surgeon because brains are neater than rockets. It’s a close battle, but brains win it.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/17 "2012-10-16T14:23:45Z")
I’m no rocket scientist, but wouldn’t “more” be more grammatically correct than “most” in the thread title?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/18 "2012-10-16T14:25:22Z")
I know too many rocket scientists, so brain surgeon it is.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/19 "2012-10-16T14:48:26Z")
It takes a lot of skill in addition to knowledge to be a brain surgeon. A rocket scientist just needs to be good at math.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-most-impressive-being-a-brain-surgeon-or-a-rocket-scientist/637856/20 "2012-10-16T16:12:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> It takes a lot of skill in addition to knowledge to be a brain surgeon. A rocket scientist just needs to be good at math.
And engineering and chemistry and physics.
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