Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

DAD, can I be a scientist when I grow up?’

‘Of course you can son, if you work hard at school; but why do you want
to be a scientist?’

‘Because they make all sorts of exciting things.’

‘What sort of things do you think they make?’

‘Our science teacher makes some brilliant bangs and smells.’

‘Well, there’s a bit more to science than that, son.’

‘I read in a book that scientists make parradiggums, or something like
³Ù³ó²¹³Ù.’

‘I think you mean paradigms.’

‘Yes, that’s it. What are they?’

‘They’re a sort of ³¾´Ç»å±ð±ô.’

‘Can I have a model parradiggum, er, paradigm for my birthday?’

‘They’re not that sort of model, I’m afraid. They’re a sort of thought
³¾´Ç»å±ð±ô.’

‘How do they work?’

‘Well, when scientists see something happen, they try to work out what
caused it. Out of all the many different possible influences, they try to
work out which were the most important. If they can, they try to make whatever
it was happen again, where they can measure it. If they make enough measurements
in enough different ways, they can begin to work out what will happen in
different conditions. Once they can do that, they have made a useful ³¾´Ç»å±ð±ô.’

‘I’d rather have a model aircraft.’

‘I’m sure you would; but I find the whole business very exciting. Å®ÉúСÊÓƵs
have made the Universe bigger and the world smaller. They’ve made it possible
to feed the world and they’ve made it possible to destroy it. They’ve made
so many changes in such a short time that I can fully understand why anyone
would want to be a part of it. I really enjoyed doing my science degree.’

‘You think it’s really exciting then do you, dad?’

‘Yes son, I do.’

‘Why are you an accountant then?’

‘ŮÉúСÊÓƵs make a lot of interesting things son, but one interesting
thing they don’t make is money.’

Andrew Madden is an ecologist in Essex.