What Inspired Scientists to Pursue Their Careers?

[SUDOnym]

Hello

I am trying to find information about what inspired people to become scientists.
I know that there are some big events that are often mentioned such as the apollo missions. But I cannot find any information from a confirmed reliable source that states this. ie. all I have now is anecdotal information.
Also, I've heard that many scientists were inspired by popularizers like Carl Sagan. Again, the only info I have about this is anecdotal - So, is there any reliable source that has perhaps surveyed scientists and can perhaps statistically support the claim that popularizers like Sagan inspired people to become scientists?

 

[Naty1]

You might find some insights here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science

 

[SUDOnym]

hmm... as I said in my original posts, I am looking for definite information about what inspired people to become scientists. ie. what do today's scientists cite as their inspiration.
The page you linked does not provide this.

 

[xts]

One more anecdote - family tradition: my grandpa was an academic mathematician, father academic chemist, I used to be academic physicist, my daughter studies biochemistry...
If you grew up in a lab rather than in kindergarten, science seems to be a natural environment to live.

That's not only the anecdote - over 1/4 of faculty are members of academic-clan-families.

 

[SUDOnym]

thanks for your comment xts. out of curiosity, where did you get your statistic of 1/4?

 

[xts]

thanks for your comment xts. out of curiosity, where did you get your statistic of 1/4?

Of "about 1/4" - hard to count them precisely, but it seems to be between 1/4 and 1/3 ;) That's my estimation taken from people I met at Physics Dept of Warsaw University and Polish Academy of Sciences - Institute of Physics.