The More Mistakes You Make, the More of a Scientist You Become

Late at night, on the veranda of a dorm at Dhaka University, a student sits alone. An open notebook in front, a cup of tea gone cold beside him. He didn’t do well in his exam. His research project has come back, splashed with red-ink comments. One question haunts his mind over and over — “Am I really capable?” Strangely enough, this very question has marked the beginning of the journey for many great scientists.

In our education system, the word “mistake” feels almost like a crime. From childhood, we’re taught that mistakes mean failure, shame, scolding. We grow up afraid that one wrong step is the end of everything. Yet, being a scientist is about befriending mistakes. Science is not about certainty; it’s about edging closer to the truth, bit by bit, by making mistake after mistake.

Just think, how many times did Thomas Edison fail while inventing his light bulb? More than a thousand times. When asked about it, he said he hadn’t failed—he’d found a thousand ways that didn’t work. This attitude isn’t taught in our classrooms. Instead, we’re told to get things right on the first try. But the truth is, being right on the first attempt isn’t the scientist’s task; the scientist’s task is to accumulate knowledge through making mistakes.

In the world’s leading labs, failures are recorded in notebooks as carefully as successes. Every failure is a new piece of information. According to a Harvard Business Review study, teams that openly discuss failures are about 30% more innovative than others. Failure only becomes dangerous when it’s hidden. When you hide your mistakes, they become poison; when you reveal them, they become medicine.

In Bangladesh, we are afraid to admit mistakes. Students can’t understand, teachers don’t acknowledge, institutions cover things up. It’s as if everyone in society is acting out a play of perfection. This very act holds us back. Yet in developed countries’ universities, the phrase “Fail fast” is a badge of honor. Make mistakes quickly, learn quickly, move forward quickly. Here, the rule is: Don’t make mistakes. The result? Nobody takes risks; nobody tries anything new.

Look through the pages of history, and you’ll see: there are no discoveries without mistakes. The story of penicillin’s invention is nothing but an accident. One day Alexander Fleming saw mold growing on a dish in his lab, and from that “mistake” was born the first antibiotic. Imagine if he had thrown it away thinking, “The experiment is ruined”—would millions of lives have been saved today?

This is where a scientist’s unique quality lies. Where others stop, a scientist keeps going. They ask, “What does this mean?” For them, a mistake is not a wall, but a door. And it is through this door that they enter a new room.

According to a UNESCO report, students who learn through trial and error develop much better problem-solving skills than others. Because they are not afraid. They know that every mistake takes them one step forward.

The fear of making mistakes is our greatest enemy. This fear teaches us to copy, to stay silent, to walk the safe path. But the safe path never leads to new destinations. If Newton had been afraid to look at the apple, if Darwin had not written down his ideas for fear of criticism, if Einstein had stopped at his bad school grades, science would look very different today.

You might be thinking, “These deep stories are for grown-ups, how do they relate to me?” The connection is simple. If you make a mistake in a campus project today, get a low score in an exam, or see an idea fail—these are all your training. The real problem comes only when you break down and don’t learn.

Being a scientist isn’t about perfection; it’s about resilience. The power to understand your own mistakes, the courage to break your ego, the wisdom to accept your own limits—these are a scientist’s true wealth.

In Bangladesh, even today, a “good student” means a student who makes few mistakes. But what we need are “good thinkers”—those who ask more questions, take more risks, and make more mistakes.

This country’s scientists need not perfect faces, but courageous hearts. Hearts that know, a mistake is not the end, but the beginning.

So if you fail today, don’t think of yourself as a failure. Think of yourself as being in training. The mistake you make today may become your greatest strength tomorrow.

And one day, years from now, if someone asks, “How did you come this far?” you’ll probably smile and say, “By making mistakes.”