Introduction. In the modern world, science is becoming a social tool that allows us to solve priority tasks of innovative development and the well-being of society. At the same time, against the background of the crisis state of Russian science and the decline in the prestige of scientific activity, there is still a respectful attitude towards the results of scientists' work, especially among people with a high educational level. However, at the same time, conservative negative attitudes towards women are quite widespread both among ordinary people and in the academic environment itself, leading to an underestimation of their research potential and the practice of devaluing their scientific contribution. Science is traditionally considered a male field of activity, and there is still a gender asymmetry in favor of men. The results of foreign and domestic research show that there are still many obstacles to women's entry into science, and therefore many girls do not consider science as a sphere of their future professional self-realization. As for the young men, there are conflicting data regarding their desire to engage in scientific research. This article presents the results of a comparative study devoted to the study of the specifics of the perception of scientific activity and the attitude towards science and scientists of female and male girls and boys – high school students and university students, taking into account the subjective attractiveness of the profession of a scientist for them.

   Materials and Methods. The study involved 112 high school students (57 boys and 55 girls) and 122 university students from different faculties and fields of study (humanities, technical, medical) (56 boys and 66 girls). To collect empirical data, a set of methods was used, including a scale for evaluating the contribution of female and male scientists to science, as well as interest in science and the degree of subjective attractiveness for respondents of scientific activity as a possible sphere of professional self-realization; an author's questionnaire; a modified version of L. B. Schneider's professional identity research methodology for studying the images of a female scientist and a male scientist; a modified version of S. Boehm's methodology for determining the degree of identification (identification) of respondents with the image of a scientist.

   Results. It was found that higher school students demonstrate a more pronounced interest in science and scientific activity than high school students, which is especially pronounced among girls. At the same time, the degree of attractiveness of scientific activity as a possible sphere of professional self- realization for girls and boys, although it increases during the transition from secondary school to higher education, generally turns out to be relatively low. Both girls and boys are poorly informed about the activities of female scientists and their scientific achievements, and also, for the most part, with the exception of female students, characterize the image of a female and male scientist differently, much more often giving the features of a professional male researcher. At the same time, it was found that there are gender differences in the degree of self-identification with the image of a scientist in favor of young men among high school students and the absence of similar gender differences among university students. During their student years, both boys and girls tend to identify with a scientist to about the same extent, which significantly exceeds the self-identification with this image among high school students.

   Discussion and Conclusions. The results obtained in the study may indirectly indicate the inner readiness of modern girls and boys to engage in scientific activities not only within the framework of academic, but also at a professional level.