The term "gentleman scientist" arose in post-RenaissanceEurope,[1] 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.
Peter Rich said of Peter D. Mitchell: "I think he would have found it difficult to have gotten funding because his ideas were rather radical."[3] Mitchell went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1978. Chemist Luis Leloir funded the research institute he headed, the Institute for Biochemical Research, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1970.[4]
Self-funding has the disadvantage that funds may be more restricted and 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 toward interests that may not coincide with that of the scientist. Furthermore, the intellectual property of the inventions belongs to the inventor and not the employer.
Modern science requires competence and may require access to scientific equipment. 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 a high risk of failure also when the grant system does not fund them. A scientist could be attributed the status of an independent scientist if they work on such projects during a gap between two academic positions, for example.
Martello, Robert (2000). "The Life and Times of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney: Gentleman Scientist and Inventor, 1793-1875 (review)". Victorian Studies. 42 (4): 688–90. doi:10.1353/vic.1999.0020. S2CID144758476.
