Question: what do you do as scientists

Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 13 Jun 2011:

Wow! No easy answer on this one… one of the best things about this job is doing lots of different things. Here some of mine that I’ve done over the years:

– writing computer programmes to process spacecraft data
– climbing a mountain to get to a remote telescope
– writing a monthly report to explain what’s been happening
– giving a planetarium presentation to the general public
– trying to figure out some why some telescope control software is not working
– attaching a small optical telescope to a large radio one to check its alignment
– driving a 4WD out to the telescope construction site
– learning a new computer language
– looking through a huge optical telescope to get check it’s working correctly
– creating a display presentation board showing the locations of all the radio telescopes in the UK
– shovelling sand into a trench to protect some signal cables
– looking at solar photographs to count the sunspots
– supervising university students to ensure that their building projects go correctly
– completing a health-and-safety assessment
– learning to speak a new language
– reading scientific journals
– climbing a telescope to press a hard-to-reach reset switch
– helping other astronomers make observations
– making maps of a radio galaxy
– writing a web site to explain my work
– attending a meeting to discuss the next year’s plans
– running through a building assessment for the installation of a new control room
– checking that electronics are working correctly
– aligning some lenses on an optical-bench
– attending a conference overseas to present my work
– soldering some wires and resistors on a circuit board
– explaining what needs to be done to contractors
– planning the coordinates of a new antenna installation
– shovelling snow off an antenna array
– sitting in a computer room, watching thousands of blinking lights
– marking student assessments
– changing the tapes on large reel-to-reel data recorders
– designing scientific radar receivers
– listening to lectures by other astronomers
– checking that a computer network is running correctly
– doing time comparisons between observatories
– trying to understand how a particular equation can be used to get a result
– going through the data and removing points that are clearly wrong
– completing my end-of-week timesheet to account for my work
– filling in an application form to get more time at a telescope
– giving lectures to university students
– writing manuals on how to use the equipment that I’ve built
– making precision temperature measurements
– checking the safety equipment
– trying to comprehend the statistics from a particular data set
– trek back through the snow, armed with a rifle in case of polar-bear attack
– doing a quality control check on a newly built antenna
– attending staff meetings
– rebooting failed computers
– working out ways to neatly display the data
– sitting in airport departure lounges waiting for the flight back home
– drinking tea while waiting for my source code to compile
– adding photographs and articles to my web logs

and…

– sitting up late at night answering IAS2011 questions 😉