Question: Hi Tom it was a shame you were not on the live chat.Also i have a question,What is the best and most interesting part of your job.

Thomas Smith answered on 16 Jun 2014:

Hi, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this morning, I was flying back from a meeting with other scientists. Unfortunately these meetings are no the most interesting part of my job!

As much as we talk, debate, and write about science, and I would say that all of that is an important part of being a scientist, the best part for me is making observations (some of us call it data collection). We all make observations all of the time, which is why I strongly believe that everyone is a scientist some way or other. But for my job I get to make particularly exciting observations.

The whole process is exciting, because you never quite know what is going to happen. We arrive at a forest in the mountains, or a heath, or a scorchingly hot grassland, and spend a long time setting up equipment in the morning and hoping that the weather will stay fine. My work involves setting fire to small patches of land (about the size of a football pitch) and I have to measure the smoke. I have to try and predict which way the smoke will go depending on the wind and make sure I position all my equipment just right. And then…. when everyone is ready, the fire crews will set fire to the land. Only then will I know if everything is right, this is probably the most exciting part! The best part is seeing the smoke pass through my equipment and seeing the measurements come up on the laptop screen.

The observations are the best bit for me!