When people hear the word scientist, many imagine the same person: someone in a white lab coat, surrounded by test tubes, speaking in technical language and possessing a special kind of brilliance.

That person exists…but they are only one version of a scientist.

Scientists also work outdoors, in hospitals, at computers, in museums, in classrooms and alongside local communities. Some study things too small to see; others study oceans, forests, planets, people or patterns in enormous sets of data. Some are outgoing collaborators. Others prefer to work quietly. Some knew from childhood that they wanted to pursue science, while others found their way to it much later.

There is no single personality, appearance, background or way of thinking that makes someone a scientist.

I believe it is a form of prejudice to assume otherwise.

That prejudice may not always be deliberate or openly hostile. Often, it appears as a collection of quiet assumptions: that a scientist must be exceptionally gifted at mathematics, that creativity and science are opposites, that someone who is fashionable or artistic cannot also be a scientist, or that a person who does not speak with complete confidence must not understand the subject.

These assumptions influence who is encouraged, who is taken seriously and who is allowed to imagine themselves belonging in science.

A narrow stereotype can discourage people before they have even had the opportunity to discover what they are capable of. If students never see scientists who look, speak or think like them, they may conclude that science is not meant for them. If colleagues expect a scientist to behave in one particular way, they may overlook people whose strengths appear differently.

But science needs different kinds of minds.

It needs people who notice tiny details and people who recognize broad patterns. It needs careful planners as well as imaginative risk-takers. It needs people who are skilled with instruments, numbers, language, relationships and ideas.

Creativity is not separate from science. It is essential to it. A scientist must imagine possibilities, design ways to test them and reconsider long-held explanations when the evidence points elsewhere. Curiosity, patience, humility and persistence can matter just as much as speed or confidence.

There are also many paths into science. Not everyone follows a straight line from school to university to a research laboratory. Some people change careers. Some begin at community college. Some return to education after raising a family or working in another field. Some contribute through technical expertise, lived experience or deep knowledge of a particular place. A less conventional path does not make their contribution less valuable.

Of course, science has standards. Ideas must be tested. Evidence must be examined carefully. Conclusions must be open to criticism and revision. Saying that there are many ways to be a scientist does not mean that anything can be called science. It means that it does not belong to one type of person.

We should question our instinct to decide who seems “scientific”. We should also pay attention to the people who are routinely interrupted, underestimated or mistaken for assistants rather than experts.

The image of the scientist must become large enough to include the real variety of people who practice science.

A scientist does not have to fit a costume or perform a personality. A scientist is someone willing to explore questions, follow evidence and change their mind when the evidence demands it.

There are many ways to do that, and science is stronger because of them.