Gentleman scientist

The gentleman scientist Sir George Cayley .

A gentleman scientist is a financially independent scientist who does research at his own expense without being tied to an educational institution. The term gentleman scientist originates from post-renaissance Europe and became increasingly uncommon in the 20th century as funding (both private and public) increased.

Most gentleman scientists were somehow connected to an academic institution (be it as a student or as a lecturer) at some point in their life. B. Charles Darwin , who was affiliated with the Geological Society of London .

Well-known gentleman scientists

• Alfred Lee Loomis
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Benjamin Franklin
• Charles Darwin
• David Rittenhouse
• Henry Cavendish
• Henry Fox Talbot
• George Frederick Kunz
• Goldsworthy Gurney
• James Braid
• James Lovelock
• Robert Boyle
• Christopher J. Date

literature

• Robert Martello: The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney: Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, 1793-1875 (review) . In: Victorian Studies . 42, No. 4, 2000, pp. 688-90. doi : 10.1353 / vic.1999.0020 .
• Porter, Dale H., The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, 1793-1875 . 1988. Lehigh University Press , ISBN 0-934223-50-5 .
• J. Cohen: RESEARCH FUNDING: Scientists Who Fund Themselves . In: Science . 279, No. 5348, 1998, pp. 178-81. doi : 10.1126 / science.279.5348.178 . PMID 9446224 .
• Jonathan Keats, " Craig Venter is the future ," Salon.com December 2007.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JC Blessings (1992). Dictionary of Modern Medicine . P. 246. ISBN 1-85070-321-3