Didn’t the greatest advancements in science occur during a time when it was more of a personal hobby (19th and early 20th centuries)?
Aren't we at a time when progress is quite slow (end 20th and early 21st centuries with big teams and a lot of funding)?
jleyank•8mo ago
Theoretical physics perhaps, but molecular biology or some other wet squishy science, no. Experiments can cost $$. This funding is for basic research and staff training, two things industry is allergic to.
throw0101d•8mo ago
> Didn’t the greatest advancements in science occur during a time when it was more of a personal hobby (19th and early 20th centuries)?
Perhaps, but there was a lot of low-hanging fruit (as a sibling comment mentions).
Biology then was taking a cup of pond water and putting it under a microscope. Biology now is gene sequencing and using HPC clusters to search through FASTA files.
What kind of new discoveries are available to backyard astronomers versus using JWST data?
isthatafact•8mo ago
> What kind of new discoveries are available to backyard astronomers versus using JWST data?
There are lots of projects a backyard "citizen scientist" can get involved with, some even using a backyard telescope, but also covering a range of fields (for example, counting butterflies, providing computing power). Many of the ones in astronomy involve data from JWST or other telescopes, so you do not need to compete with JWST:
https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/
Tadpole9181•8mo ago
So your answer to modern science being incredibly expensive and difficult and requiring specialized equipment is... to use the data from enormously expensive, specialized equipment deployed in a public research project that could never be achieved without science funding?
isthatafact•8mo ago
Why would that be a bad thing?
I guess I do not really understand the comment.
I think science is a good thing for society, and I think giving interested volunteers the chance to participate in science is good, and maybe it also helps keep science accessible and accountable.
If it enables science to happen that would otherwise not happen, then that is even better.
And not all citizen science is about crowd-sourcing data analysis--some of it is simply observing your backyard.
deeg•8mo ago
> Didn’t the greatest advancements in science occur during a time when it was more of a personal hobby (19th and early 20th centuries)?
Is this true? I have far from an exhaustive knowledge of research but most of the advances I can think of were by academics: Maxwell, Bohr, the Curies, etc.
Einstein was one notable exception but he was trying to get hired by universities during his miracle year; antisemitism likely played a role. Soon after he was hired and forever after led the academic life.
JPLeRouzic•8mo ago
Aren't we at a time when progress is quite slow (end 20th and early 21st centuries with big teams and a lot of funding)?
jleyank•8mo ago
throw0101d•8mo ago
Perhaps, but there was a lot of low-hanging fruit (as a sibling comment mentions).
Biology then was taking a cup of pond water and putting it under a microscope. Biology now is gene sequencing and using HPC clusters to search through FASTA files.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FASTA_format
What kind of new discoveries are available to backyard astronomers versus using JWST data?
isthatafact•8mo ago
There are lots of projects a backyard "citizen scientist" can get involved with, some even using a backyard telescope, but also covering a range of fields (for example, counting butterflies, providing computing power). Many of the ones in astronomy involve data from JWST or other telescopes, so you do not need to compete with JWST: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/
Tadpole9181•8mo ago
isthatafact•8mo ago
I guess I do not really understand the comment.
I think science is a good thing for society, and I think giving interested volunteers the chance to participate in science is good, and maybe it also helps keep science accessible and accountable. If it enables science to happen that would otherwise not happen, then that is even better.
And not all citizen science is about crowd-sourcing data analysis--some of it is simply observing your backyard.
deeg•8mo ago
Is this true? I have far from an exhaustive knowledge of research but most of the advances I can think of were by academics: Maxwell, Bohr, the Curies, etc.
Einstein was one notable exception but he was trying to get hired by universities during his miracle year; antisemitism likely played a role. Soon after he was hired and forever after led the academic life.