Independent scientist
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An independent scientist (historically also known as gentleman scientist) is a financially independent scientist who pursues scientific study without direct affiliation to a public institution such as a university or government-run research and development body. The expression "gentleman scientist" arose in post-Renaissance Europe, but became less common in the 20th century as government and private funding increased.
Most independent scientists have at some point in their career been affiliated with some academic institution, such as Charles Darwin, who was affiliated with the Geological Society of London.
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History
Self-funded scientists practiced more commonly from the Renaissance until the late 19th century, including the Victorian era, especially in England, before large-scale government and corporate funding was available. Many early fellows of the Royal Society in London were independent scientists.
Benefits and drawbacks
Self-funding has the disadvantage that funds may be more restricted; however, it has the advantage of eliminating a number of inconveniences such as teaching obligations, administrative duties, and writing grant requests to funding bodies. It also permits the scientist to have greater control over research directions, as funding bodies direct grants towards interests that may not coincide with that of the scientist. Furthermore, intellectual property of the inventions belongs to the inventor and not the employer.
Modern science requires competence and may require access to scientific equipment. However, independent scientists may have past careers as funded scientists, cooperate with funded colleagues, obtain partial equipment-only grants or choose directions where the most expensive resource required is the researcher's time. If the research succeeds, independent scientists may publish results in the same peer-reviewed journals as funded scientists do.
Scientists may choose to work on unusual projects with high risk of failure also when the grant system does not fund them. A scientist could be attributed the status of independent scientist if they work on such projects during a gap between two academic positions, for example.
Notable independent scientists
- Mary Anning
- Isaac Newton
- Aristotle
- Hertha Ayrton
- Charles Babbage
- Julian Barbour
- Robert Boyle
- James Braid
- Mark Catesby
- Henry Cavendish
- John Dalton
- Charles Darwin
- Christopher J. Date
- Robert C. Edgar
- Albert Einstein
- Carlo Fornasini
- Benjamin Franklin
- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
- Goldsworthy Gurney
- Oliver Heaviside
- Caroline Herschel
- Robert Kraichnan
- George Frederick Kunz
- Antoine Lavoisier
- Alfred Lee Loomis
- A. Garrett Lisi
- Ada Lovelace
- James Lovelock
- Joseph Priestley
- David Rittenhouse
- David E. Shaw
- Alexander Shulgin
- Mary Somerville
- Henry Fox Talbot
- Nikola Tesla
- John Wilkinson (scientist)
- Stephen Wolfram
- Thomas Young
- Lord Salisbury
- Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky
- Gregor Mendel
A gentleman scientist is a financially independent scientist who pursues scientific study without direct affiliation to a public institution such as a university or government-run research and development body. The expression arose in post-Renaissance Europe but became less common in the 20th century as government and private funding increased.
Most gentleman scientists have at some point in their career been affiliated with some academic institution, such as Charles Darwin who was affiliated with the Geological Society of London.
See also
Notable gentleman scientists
- Alfred Lee Loomis
- Antoine Lavoisier
- Benjamin Franklin
- Charles Darwin
- David Rittenhouse
- Henry Cavendish
- Henry Fox Talbot
- George Frederick Kunz
- Goldsworthy Gurney
- James Lovelock
- Robert Boyle
- Christopher J. Date