• Question: If you won the lottery would you retire from work or would you carry on?

    Asked by cellman to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by adrianfear.
    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hey cellman.

      We’ve had this question before, but again; I can’t really say for sure – I like to think I’d still work but maybe I wouldn’t!
      I’d definitely still keep up with science; maybe even more than I do now, if I worked less in the week I could read more about developments and I’d definitely like to continue in science communication, to spread awareness about science and discoveries being made, bad reporting etc.

      Would you work if you had millions of pounds?!

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I’d keep going. It’d be great to win the euromillions jackpot and then maybe put it on a knackered old pony at the race-track that miraculously won. If I had that kind of money (silly money) then I could maybe set up my own lab and do exactly what I liked. In the past it used to be indendently rich people who did science as a hobby and could pursue any old theory they liked. Now you have to practically guarantee a result before anybody will give you money to do experiments. This puts a lot of pressure on scientists and contributes to the problems we have with people cheating their data and copying other scientists’ results.

      Henry Wellcome (the founder of the charity that funds imascientist) said that you should ‘never tell anybody what you’re going to do until you’ve done it.’ I suspect some scientists work like that so that they have some freedom to do the work they wnat to do that might not yield results (but might be brilliant).

    • Photo: Emma Pilgrim

      Emma Pilgrim answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Depends how much I won!

      Seriously though I would have to do something to keep me occupied or I would get bored. I would use the money to fulfill some dreams and perhaps do some work on an area I am really interested in……

    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi cellman,

      No, I’d carry on – I’m having too much fun doing what I do!

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