The Myth of the "Scientist"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not an engineer!" Those of you who have ever watched Star Trek, TOS will recognize this as the words of Dr. "Bones" McCoy. Hollywood, it seems, has grasped the idea that those who are experts in medicine are not necessarily experts in everything else, as well. However, somehow that understanding has not flowed over to other areas of science. How many times have you seen a movie where the "scientist", who was studying fundamental particles, designed and built his own equipment, genetically engineered his own lab assistants, and also cooked his own meals (male scientists and engineers know that this is the most unlikely of all)?

I am constantly amazed at what people lump together as 'science.' As a chemist I have taken 1 biology class in my entire college career. I've taken a couple of physics classes, but I'm certainly no expert in relativity (heck, I'm not even an expert in quantum mechanics). And I've never taken a geology or anthropology class. And yet somehow, I'm still constantly asked "Sam, you're a chemist. How does groundwater diffusion work?" That's a bit like saying "Jim, you majored in French. How to you say 'sleep' in Arabic?"

So how do we combat this universal misunderstanding? Ultimately, it will probably never happen. However, if it ever does, it will probably be media that is responsible. I therefore propose that we push the following taglines, in hopes that they get adopted by Hollywood:

"Dammit Jim, I'm a physicist, not a mechanical engineer!"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a chemical engineer, not a (real) chemist!"

"Dammit Jim, I'm a natural product synthetic organic chemist, not a pharmaceutical organic chemist!"