Author Mrlonelyone Posted March 29, 2011 Author Posted March 29, 2011 When I wrote earlier about the possibility that some of the reactions I get to saying I am a physicist could be racially motivated I got some disbelieving responses. I am not the only black scientist to get this. I have cited video's of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about other things... Here he is talking about women and minorities in science. ( ) (Transcript) When I look at throughout my life I have noticed I wanted to do astrophysics since when I was 9 years old, a first visit to the Hayden Planetarium. So I got to see how the world around me reacted to my expression of these ambitions. All I can say is the fact that I wanted to be a scientist, an astrophysicist, was hands down, the path of most resistance through the forces of society. Any time I expressed this interest, teachers would say “don’t you want to be an athlete?” I wanted to become something that was outside the paradigms of expectation of the people in power. This hasn't changed much.
ivalm Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 No but I am working on my thesis research and my book has been cited in published papers. Which for a book is just about as good. You wrote a book which was published? Or are you one of the many coathors of one of the chapters? Not that publications matter, I (and many of my friends), have first/main author paper(s) in high impact factor journals.. still, grad students is the standard way we refer to each other... Although, frankly, I don't think this is what this thread is about
Author Mrlonelyone Posted March 29, 2011 Author Posted March 29, 2011 I wrote the book. It has been bought by libraries and referenced by other scientist. I have gotten both complimentary and critical commentary from senior scientist. As for the definition of research and researcher let us defer to Websters dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/research?show=0&t=1301363475 Which does not mention a PhD or any formal education as being needed for calling ones self a researcher. Which one you use depends on who you talk to. When I am on campus talking to people or other students... Graduate student. I don't want to give the impression I am faculty. When I am talking to everyone else in the world Theoretical Physicist... or researcher. I don't want to give the impression that I am working on my BA or BS or Associates or a certificate... since out in the rest of the world most "students"... are not doing anything like what I am doing. Plus as I pointed out the more general usage is as said in Websters which is what should be used in conversation outside of the quad. Your right. My profession was not the subject.... but people refuse to drop it.
utterer of lies Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 Your right. My profession was not the subject.... but people refuse to drop it. Yeah, I'm sorry. I just got the impression you are being 'too grandiose', and tried to find out if you were. And, after all this sidetracking, I still think you are, for the reasons mentioned in my previous posts.
ChessPieceFace Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 Kind of like the posts in my thread eh? I'd certainly rather be one of the quality posts than one of the quantity posts there.
Author Mrlonelyone Posted March 29, 2011 Author Posted March 29, 2011 According to utterer's way of thinking in 1904 Einstein wasn't a scientist because his job title didn't say so. LOL. (1905 is the year Einstein published his Annis Mirabalis (miracle year) papers. Five papers each of which was groundbreaking work. Including "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". I guess all that time Einstein was working on that he wasn't a scientist. Not that I am as smart as Einstein or anything.)
utterer of lies Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 According to utterer's way of thinking in 1904 Einstein wasn't a scientist because his job title didn't say so. LOL. (1905 is the year Einstein published his Annis Mirabalis (miracle year) papers. Five papers each of which was groundbreaking work. Including "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". I guess all that time Einstein was working on that he wasn't a scientist. Not that I am as smart as Einstein or anything.) Indeed. Before publishing the work, and therefore exposing it to the eyes of other experts, who was to say if someone's theories are just crackpot pseudoscience or a valuable contribution to the field? I mean, this is similar to musicians. Lots of people can play an instrument or sing. Are they all musicians? And in my previous post I did state, if you remember, that you might be an unrecognized scientific genius. It's just that the probability for that is quite low, based on my current understanding of the situation.
Author Mrlonelyone Posted March 29, 2011 Author Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) My works have been exposed to the eyes of experts. Some of them thought them significant enough to cite as source matterial in their own works. Not to mention my thesis, and my formal education in science. However I see what you are trying to do. That I should just say I am a student or a "graduate student". The problems I have with that are. As I said to people outside academia if I say student they get the impression that I haven't graduated college... at my age of 30. That's probably a red flag to allot of people. If I say graduate student... the next question is "what do you study". At which point it becomes a whole conversation like so. "What do you study?" "Well I'm not taking classes right now. I am working on my thesis in cosmology. The subject is the big bang." Which is all 100% true.... and worse IMHO than simply calling myself a theoretical physicist ... then changing the subject to what they do... or how nice the buffet is. Edited March 29, 2011 by Mrlonelyone
TryingtoUnderstand32 Posted March 30, 2011 Posted March 30, 2011 I think I compromised myself a little. Trying to deal with a break up and deciding if it was worth it.
Author Mrlonelyone Posted March 30, 2011 Author Posted March 30, 2011 Well.. Look at it this way. Some people loose themselves in who their SO is. Now this is your time to find who you really are. Be true to that person... and find someone who will take you for that person you truly are.
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