- #36
ubavontuba
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arildno said:For the record:
Nicholas Christofilos was a a Greek elevator ENGINEER, which means that he certainly had a decent background in maths and (classical) physics.
Engineers tend to be intelligent and clever fellows, with a passion for physics.
To call him an "amateur" is hardly correct, even though he must be called an independent researcher.
There can be many reasons why persons who are competent enough to do professional physics choose to pursue a career in engineering instead:
1. The topics in engineering seems more interesting
2. You are practically guaranteed a job you are qualified for; there aren't that many positions for "pure physics" researchers even in our days (and in earlier times, there was practically no such jobs, and full-time physicists more often than not had independent means of living, like Lord Kelvin and the de Broglie guys).
Sure. And Einstein was but a lowly patent clerk and Edison but a lowly telegraph operator and Faraday was a bookbinder and Herschel was a music teacher and Priestley was... well fittingly a priest and Rutherford became a scientist only because he failed to get a job as a schoolteacher and Stradonitz originally intended to become an architect and Loomis was an investment banker and...
Defining the term "amateur scientist" is difficult in the context of history. Many start out to be one thing, but by happenstance become reknown scientists. Some intend to be a scientist in one field, only to find themselves working in another.