A simple approach

(Post in lingua italiana)

‘Scientist’ is a job description. It is a mistery for me that in Italian the word is used only in reference to a great Scientist. For the mundane scientist, the word ‘researcher’ (ricercatore) is preferred. In addition, researchers denote a broader category than scientists do, as for example they include also classical scholars.

In English, scientist is a common word, that can be found in many business cards of people working in research and development in Industry and Academia. Our ‘ricercatore’ is directly derived from the French ‘chercheur’, as usual.

More important is the attitude of a scientist. Which consists in accepting no authority principle when considering an issue or forming an opinion. The CV does not matter, nor the academic degree, nor the authority of the speaker. Any claim is only assessed with the solidity of its arguments and falsifiability tests.

It is a daily and minor version of the scientific method. A healthy excess of professionalism. One can find it in many non-scientists, even with little education. Sometimes it is missing in professional scientists. Sometimes it can be found in irriverent kids.

Never say “X said that”, “You cannot know, you’re not a Y”, “I am right since I studied at”, “Everybody knows”. A frequent note to my students: don’t believe me. Check.

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