Picture the scene: It is 3 am in the Hilton Meteropole in Brighton. My hands, still red raw from applauding the RSC Award winners at the General Assembly, are clasped around my nightcap and I’m having a lively discussion with two other volunteers about the merits of a chemistry degree.
The provocative question arises: “So, would you want your kids to study chemistry?” As a medicinal chemist, given the turmoil in my industry, a quick answer in the negative would be all too easy!
I’ve been asked variants of this question before, usually when my colleagues find out I go into schools on a regular basis to promote chemistry as a career. The general gist of the argument is that wages are far higher in many other jobs. The typical example of the chemistry (post)graduate who abandoned the lab for the shining lights of the City to find their wages doubled overnight (even excluding London allowances) is oft quoted in support of my portrayal as a deceiver of children. After all, “There’s no money/future/life in chemistry”.
If we’re all honest, there isn’t anyone in any job who wouldn’t take more money for the same (or less) work. If we’re also honest, we will acknowledge that such a dream scenario doesn’t really exist. The six and seven figure salaries oft-quoted in the media are real; but far less coverage is given to the commitment required to reach that dizzying height or the thousands of others who fail in the attempt.
If the world made any sense, farmers would be the real billionaires. After all, to quote the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper: “We have to take in nourishment, expel waste and breathe in enough oxygen to keep our cells from dying. Everything else is purely optional.” But economics doesn’t work like that, nothing comes for free and sometimes money isn’t everything.
When I speak to students, I tell them these things. I tell them that a career in the sciences is unlikely to make them super-rich. I tell them that yes, a science degree is valued by the City, that many scientists go on to have great careers in finance, law, business and politics. I also tell them there is no shame in wanting to get rich, because some people in the audience will surely have a talent for it.
Then I ask them to name a famous banker? A famous lawyer? A famous scientist? We can’t all win Nobel prizes; we can’t all have apples fall on heads; fly kites in thunder-storms; realise there is more to the shape of a birds beak than aesthetics or discover antibiotics – but some of us might. Some scientists will leave a massive and indelible mark on the history of our planet. And those that don’t will always be acknowledged by (the best of) those that do for their “silent” contribution to their ground breaking discoveries. As do the best business leaders, who acknowledge that their profits come from the innovation of their research and development departments.
So the lawyers will get the rich. The bankers will be rolling in it. The doctor will save your life. But ultimately the scientist (and the farmer) will be responsible for it all. For me, the ability to contribute to making a real difference to humanity, along with the miniscule chance of true immortality (not temporary celebrity) is worth a salary that will (probably) never hit the highs of other careers.
And now to think of a counter-argument to this for when my boss brings it up at my annual appraisal….
