We have to change the way people look at scientists. Today, they are the nerds, the geeks. Instead, we want some of the cool kids to say, ‘Hey, this is all right.’ Mae Jemison Read Quote
My perspective is the Earth will be here. It just may not be habitable to our life form. We get confused. We think we’re the center of everything. Mae Jemison Read Quote
I wanted to be a scientist, but I wanted to go into space. They are not mutually exclusive. Mae Jemison Read Quote
Everyone in the astronaut program has a degree in a science field. The crew are the ones who do the experiments, help to design some of the experiments that come from other primary researchers. So it becomes very important that you have a science background. Mae Jemison Read Quote
When I was a little girl, I thought when I had an opportunity to go into space, I thought I would at a minimum be working on Mars or another large planet because we were doing all of these incredible things. Mae Jemison Read Quote
There is a fascination with the idea that one has ‘seen someone else do something’ before one can achieve it. Maybe that’s true in some cases, but clearly it is not a requirement. I knew what I wanted to do. Mae Jemison Read Quote
I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute that would be difficult to do if I stayed. I thought I could have a stronger voice as an advocate for space exploration. So I ended up starting my own technology consulting company. Mae Jemison Read Quote
The drills we do, where you’re telling kids to memorize things, don’t actually work. What works is engaging them and letting them do things and discover things. Mae Jemison Read Quote
When you have teachers saying, ‘I don’t have enough time for hands-on activities,’ we need to rethink the way we do education. Mae Jemison Read Quote
The best way to get students involved in science and want to follow either science careers or incorporate it in their lives or to achieve science literacy is to expose them to the various jobs in STEM. It’s broad from biologists to electricians to nanotechnologists to building fusion engines. It’s a wide range of things. Mae Jemison Read Quote
