The profession of scientists defines it as: digital representation and understanding of the unity of real nature and its related phenomena. All scientists are successful people, such as British physicist Newton, Polish astronomer Copernicus, Madame Curie, Einstein and China agronomist Yuan Longping.
Traditionally, mathematics is also a science, but in modern times, mathematicians are often not considered as scientists, because the methods of mathematical discovery and scientific discovery are different: scientific discovery can generally be proved by experiments, but many mathematical theories are just theories, and there is no experiment to do empirical research. A sign of how to become a scientist is to become an independent researcher first. In other words, a scientist must have the autonomy to participate in scientific research, publishing, communication and other activities. And how to win this autonomy? This autonomy is linked to the result. To put it bluntly, the so-called achievements are nothing more than publishing articles or obtaining patents. This is very important for a scientist whose career is scientific research. In the past, we always emphasized that scientists should have the scientific spirit first, that is, if you want to take scientific discovery as a career, you must have the spirit of dedication, realism, rigor and persistence. This is the so-called scientific spirit. However, as scientific research has become a social system, especially modern scientific activities have the characteristics of government-led, science has suddenly changed from "small science" to "big science" and science has also become a profession. This is why scientists, like other people in society, have white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, teachers, apprentices, leaders, exploiters, exploited people, even capitalists, workers, even hooligans, liars, braggadocios and people who make up the numbers. The reason for this.
So in this sense, not all people engaged in scientific research activities can be called "scientists". Only those researchers who have gained "autonomy" and independence and can participate in scientific research and exchanges can be called scientists in the true sense.
But then again, whether you are an independent scientist or not, if you are engaged in scientific research, then you must have scientific spirit. In other words, it is realistic and professional.
This has nothing to do with whether a person is a scientist or not.
Therefore, publishing some powerful articles in the postgraduate stage is a stepping stone for you to find a job, otherwise you must complete the task of publishing articles as soon as possible in the postdoctoral stage, otherwise your life will definitely be difficult. Unless you are not prepared to engage in relevant scientific research. This means that you are no longer a scientist.
Scientific activities sometimes look more like a credit investment. Not only does every scientist in today's "big science" era need financial support, but scientists without credibility are not real scientists. It seems that someone once said that a contributing scientist is worth many politicians or generals. This sentence is not too much to evaluate scientists in the era of "small science". However, in the current era of "big science", we should emphasize the contribution of scientific research groups rather than individuals. But in reality, people are always used to attributing the credit for scientific discovery to the leader of a research group. Therefore, if scientific achievements can bring "credibility" to scientific and technological personnel, it is often a few of them who benefit the most, reflecting the "Matthew effect" that is widespread in society.
This can understand why scientific research is becoming a profession more and more.
For a young man who is about to grow into a scientist, what you need is how to establish your academic reputation in such an environment. But judging from people's cognitive habits at present, it is difficult for a young science student to give you some academic credibility without his own tutor. Therefore, when you choose a mentor, you must look at your future "mentor". Especially to see if he/she can help you become an "independent" researcher. There is a noun "Mentor" in English, which is equivalent to "mentor" in Chinese. Then the basis for judging whether your tutor is your "tutor" depends not only on whether you really learned something, but also on whether your tutor played a key role in the process of becoming an independent researcher. This is actually very important.
Some people may think that as long as the tutor has done "giving lessons to solve doubts", but I think that is really not enough. Because the responsibility of a scientist is not only to make scientific contributions, but also to cultivate an independent scientist. This is actually another important task for scientists. Should be included in the contribution of a scientist.
Therefore, in the current scientific environment, for a young man who is interested in becoming a scientist and is ready to devote himself to scientific research, he must pay attention to three aspects.
First, recognize the importance of science and agree that science is necessary for human survival and development. With this concept, we can love science and have the motivation and desire to devote ourselves to science.
Second, consciously cultivate the scientific spirit and master the existing scientific knowledge as systematically as possible. In fact, this is an indispensable thing for a scientist.
Third, in view of the characteristics of big science now, how to become a scientist through some efforts requires certain strategies. Among them, choosing a tutor is the key.
As the ancients said, you should not be careless in choosing a job. Choosing a teacher is also a very serious matter.