'They are waiting for you to take the stage, Mr Scientist

Abstract

Scientists feel a lot more comfortable in their laboratory than they do on a stage in front of thousands of people. This is true of every scientist I know and it is certainly true of me. We are even further from our comfort zone when we are carrying out scientific experiments on that stage and trying to ‘wow ‘the audience with our craft. Earlier this year, I was standing in front of 1900 expectant faces for the tenth time in three days, at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin, hoping not to accidentally set myself on fire or spill liquid nitrogen everywhere, and I found myself thinking back to how I had managed to end up in a science show.