“You don’t need to be a genius to become a researcher”
2021-02-05
What do researchers do? Does one need to be a genius or like to study? No, not at all. In the new children’s book “Forskardrömmar – berättelser för nyfikna barn” (”Researcher dreams – stories for curious children”, published in Swedish), we are getting to know researchers as children and find out what it was that made them choose research. The stories are funny, exciting, and sometimes even sad, something that makes the book easy to read. The book aims to demystify research and motivate more children to choose to study and do research.

You find two excerpts from the book at the bottom of this article. Note! The excepts are in Swedish.
Forskardrömmar – berättelser för nyfikna barn was produced by the Young Academy of Sweden, an interdisciplinary academy for a selection of the most prominent younger researchers in Sweden. The book contains 60, beautifully illustrated stories about different children who later in life have chosen to contribute to research. Some of them are well known, like Carl Linnaeus , others are young researchers who are currently working on solving important societal problems.
Steffi Burchardt, docent and associate professor in structural geology at the Department of Earth sciences, is a member of the Young Academy of Sweden and has, together with Tove Fall from the Department of Medical Sciences and three researchers from KTH and the University of Gothemburg, written Forskardrömmar. Among other stories, the book contains the story of Graham Budd, professor in paleobiology.
Steffi stresses that it is important to demystify research. It is exciting to do research, and you don’t need to be a genius or love to study.
- We want to challenge the old-fashioned image of a researcher as a white-haired male in a lab coat. Most children’s books about research tell stories about grown-up idols, brilliant researchers, but it is much easier for children to identify with other children.
This is why we let children be the protagonists of our stories. How were these researchers as children? 60 different researchers from different scientific fields have told us their story. We’re meeting sassy, happy, and sad children who have found their very own way to research. The book also contains some explanations about what a university is, how research is done, and how different research topics are connected.
How will you promote the book?
- We will visit different libraries and we also hope that the book will be used in schools. During the school holidays we’ll visit the Technical Museum. We really hope that the book will inspire children, we especially want to reach children that have never thought about research or know that research is a line of work.
For more information, please contact Steffi Burchardt.
Read more and order the book ”Forskardrömmar, berättelser för nyfikna barn” from Bokus.
Other researchers (apart from the above mentioned) from Uppsala University whose stories are told in the book: Anders Celsius, Åsa Konradsson-Geuken, Christian Benedict, Elsa Eschelson, Funeka Nkosi, Meena Daividanam, Mia Philipsson, Sanna Koskiniemi.
Excerpts from the book
News from the Department of Earth Sciences
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Stort anslag till forskning om klimatet och naturen
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First place in making research more sustainable
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Breaking the isolation of Ukrainian university teachers
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Mikael Höök är ny föreståndare för CEMUS
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Europeiskt samarbete gör det lättare att förutsäga framtidens klimat
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Minuscule fossil finds shed light on the aftermath of the Cambrian Explosion
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Energi från underjorden kan bli en del av framtidens energiförsörjning
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Wide income gaps lead to higher mortality rates during flood disasters
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Urban water crises driven by elites’ unsustainable consumption
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Atmosfäriska cirkulationsmönster bidrar till extremväder
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Nöjda doktorander på Geocentrum
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Turné mot vetenskapsförnekelse
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Slutrapport från Expertgruppen för hållbara mineral- och metallflöden
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6 miljoner kronor till projekt som ska undersöka svenska litiumfyndigheter
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Skatterna man tappade: metaller och mineral i gruvavfall
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Akademiföreläsning med Anna Rutgersson: Extremväder i ett föränderligt klimat
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International research project will study past climate changes in the European Arctic
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Keen to see more applied environmental policy research
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Björn Lund om jordbävningen i Turkiet och Syrien
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Veijo Pohjola: "Iskärnor kan avslöja hemligheter om klimatet"
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Worms, bacteria and fungi help reduce carbon dioxide emissions
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The planet’s wellbeing and human health in focus in this year’s Celsius-Linnaeus Lectures
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A 1 669 665 SEK grant from The European Research Council enhances our knowledge around extreme weather events
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Lina Mtwana Nordlund elected into global expert panel for ocean observation
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Mikael Höök kommenterar protesterna runt kolgruvan i Tyskland
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Europas största fyndighet för sällsynta jordartsmetaller har hittats i Kiruna
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Värmebölja i Europa – forskare varnar för att den här typen av extremväder blir allt vanligare
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6 miljoner kronor från Formas till forskning om livsmedelsberedskap och skydd av jordbruksmark
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Unprecedented droughts are expected to exacerbate urban inequalities in Southern Africa
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Generous software donation to Uppsala University
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Discovery of world’s oldest DNA breaks record by one million years
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Jordskalv i Norduppland: ”Med svenska mått stort”
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”Krisen för biologisk mångfald ställer krav på starkt ledarskap och förändrat tänkande”
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Calendar created from winning weather images
The winning pictures in our weather picture contest have now been collected in a calendar for 2023. The calendar can be bought in the university's webshop or on site in Ekonomikum, BMC, the University Library and the Ångström Laboratory.
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Fyra nya öppna onlinekurser i klimatledarskap
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Listen to Sverker C. Jagers inaugural lecture
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Premiär för öppna utbildningar om klimatomställning
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Gabriele Messori promoted to Professor in Meteorology
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Maria Ask: "Potentialen i geotermi är enorm"
Maria Ask, forskare i geofysik, intervjuas i senaste numret av Svensk geoenergi.
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Steffi Burchardt bemöter falska rykten om vulkaner
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Valentin Troll på SVT om det högsta vulkanutbrottet någonsin
Utbrottet på Tonga i början av 2022 påverkade hela atmosfären.
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Uppsala universitet rankas högt inom hållbarhet
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David Harper och Regine Hock nya hedersdoktorer vid teknisk-naturvetenskapliga fakulteten
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Anna Rutgersson: klimatmodeller kan hjälpa oss att förutse följderna av klimatförändringarna
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Många samverkar kring energiomställning på Gotland
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Madeleine Bohlin i Fråga Lund
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Is building more dams the way to save rivers?
Giuliano Di Baldassarre intervjuas i National Geographic.
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Henrik Wachtmeister: ”Fler märkliga händelser kan ske i Europa”
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Mikael Karlsson i Forskarpodden
"Det finns många myter kring klimatomställning. Hoppet tycker jag ligger i att forskningen visar väldig tydligt att det här är myter eftersom vi kan skapa jobb och tillväxt med klimatomställning."
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En tredje sprängning undersöks av Svenska nationella seismiska nätet (SNSN)