Culture Beautiful minds

They don't all have crazy hair. They didn't all show early signs of genius. In 12 true tales — of a truck driver's son, a hospital orderly, a farm boy — a new graphic novel shows how anyone can be a scientist

- Anesha George

What should a scientist look like? When the non-profit British Science Association (BSA) surveyed 14- to 18-year-olds across four years, they found answers that mirrored those in the popular imagination: A scientist looks geeky, awkward, bespectacled; has crazy hair.

Their report, published on their website in 2023, found that only 8% could conjure an image of a scientist they could identify with. "Pop-culture and media tend to portray scientists as solo geniuses, capable of tinkering around and coming up with insights other people just don't have the innate ability for. That really isn't how science works. Anyone can become a scientist," says Adrian Liston, 44, professor of pathology who heads the Liston-Dooley lab at the University of Cambridge.

Liston's new graphic novel, Becoming a Scientist (available free online), is aimed at readers aged 12-18. He wants to inspire the next generation of scientists with a more realistic view, he says.