Meet Real Scientists: People Who Ask Big Questions

Have you ever stared at a bug and wondered what it eats? Or looked at the sky and asked why it is blue? When you do that, you are already thinking like a scientist! Real scientists are people just like you — they see something interesting and cannot stop wondering about it. Let's meet some of them!

In this lesson you will find out what scientists actually do every day, meet three real scientists and learn what they discovered, see that anyone can be a scientist, and try thinking like a scientist yourself.

Scientists are curious people who ask questions about how the world works — and then do experiments to try to find the answers. A scientist might watch how plants grow in sunlight and in the dark, count how many kinds of birds live near a pond, mix things together and see what happens, or look at tiny things under a microscope. The most important tool any scientist has is their own curiosity!

Jane Goodall was a young woman from England who loved animals more than anything. In 1960, she traveled to the forests of Tanzania in Africa to live near chimpanzees and watch them. Her big discovery: chimpanzees make and use tools! She watched a chimp strip the leaves off a stick and then poke it into a termite mound to pull out termites to eat. Before Jane, scientists believed only humans made and used tools. Jane sat quietly in the forest for months until the chimps trusted her. She gave them names — one she called David Greybeard. Before her, most scientists did not name animals. Jane showed the world that animals have personalities, feelings, and family bonds, just like people.

Mae Jemison grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and loved both dancing and science. In 1992, she flew into space on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African American woman to travel to space. In space, she did real science experiments to see how living things act when floating with no gravity. She brought frog eggs into space to find out if frog tadpoles could hatch normally without gravity. They could! Mae always said that the most important thing is to never let other people's limits become your limits. She is now a doctor and a teacher who helps kids all over the world study science.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Missouri in the 1860s. Even though he faced enormous hardship, he grew up to become one of the most famous scientists in American history. He studied plants — especially peanuts and sweet potatoes. He invented over 300 different ways to use peanuts, including peanut milk, peanut soap, and peanut-based face cream! His goal was to help poor farmers grow more food and earn more money from their land. He would walk into the woods early in the morning and let himself be curious about whatever he found. His curiosity and hard work changed farming across the United States.