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Asked by goatscheese to Adam, Geoff, Rob, Sheila, Suzie on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: Your Research.
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Adam Tuff answered on 14 Mar 2011:
That’s the aim of the game! I have collected data on a particular isotope of magnesium, which forms in stars and a very important link in making all of the heavier elements – we currently don’t know why we see the different amounts of elements in our universe, so my work focuses on being able to understand this more, and in turn understand our universe more!
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Geoff McBride answered on 14 Mar 2011:
In the past I have published my work to other scientists and industry spreading the word on new things I have discovered.
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Sheila Kanani answered on 14 Mar 2011:
Hmmm, good question Goatscheese. You have asked a lot of good questions!
Knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject; (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information; or (iii) be absolutely certain or sure about something.
My work doesn’t do number 3, because no one can ever be absolutely certain or sure about anything!
I like to think my work does numbers 1 and 2 though, in a very small way! It is certainly creating new knowledge for me!
PhDs are supposed to contain brand new research or ideas, and through these we learn new things. So I guess overall the answer is yes, just maybe not in a huge and obvious way.
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Suzie Sheehy answered on 14 Mar 2011:
Yes! I work on coming up with new ways to accelerate particles, so I’m always trying to get back to the basic physics and think of new ways to solve the problem. It’s really quite interesting and is definitely a creative pursuit!
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Robert Simpson answered on 15 Mar 2011:
I hope that all research creates new knowledge – in fact gaining a PhD is defined as contributing something new to the knowledge of humanity. I would hope that all scientists are incrementally adding to what we know about their field of work. Sometimes, a person is clever enough and lucky enough to discover or invent something that gives us a great leap forward and these are the scientists who usually go down in history.
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