Gentleman scientist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A gentleman scientist was a scientist with a private income who could pursue scientific study independently as he wished without excessive external financial pressures, in the days before large-scale government funding was available, up to the Victorian era, especially in England. For example, Charles Darwin's father helped fund him to be a gentleman scientist in Victorian times. Many early fellows of the Royal Society in London were gentleman scientists.

The position essentially died out during the 20th century as other forms of science funding increased, although Stephen Wolfram could be considered a modern-day equivalent, funding his own independent research through the Mathematica tool.

[edit] See also

• Robert Boyle
• Goldsworthy Gurney
• George Frederick Kunz
• Natural philosophy
• Royal Society
• Scientific method

[edit] References

• Martello, Robert, The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney: Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, 1793–1875 (review), Victorian Studies, Volume 42, Number 4, Summer 1999/2000, pp. 688–690. Indiana University Press.
• 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.