The History and Future of Autodidacts and Citizen Scientists
Some of us go through life with gnawing thoughts of “I always wanted to be a _________.” If the word “scientist” ends this sentence for you, but you feel that your goal is out of reach, think again. You can still become a scientist, even without a Ph.D. and even without a college education.
Many individuals, called autodidacts, are active scientists despite never receiving a college degree. An autodidact is somebody who is self-taught. Some of the most outstanding scientists in history were also autodidacts. These individuals either had minimal grammar school or never received a college degree. Instead, these autodidacts took up the process of self-learning and deeply immersed themselves in research that contributed to the foundations of science that we know today.
One of our most famous autodidacts is Galileo Galilei, who once considered becoming a monk. His father, however, did not want him to pursue a life in religion. Instead, he urged him to study medicine at the University of Pisa. But Galileo was not interested in medicine. He was interested in mathematics. However, in 1585, Galileo dropped out of college and continued to learn math on his own. Then, after four years, the university took him back, but this time, it was to teach mathematics.
Jane Marcet, who flourished in the nineteenth century, did not embrace her inner scientist until she was in her 30s. Growing up, her father homeschooled her, where she learned Latin, chemistry, history, and science. Though she never attended a university, she was brilliant. She married physician Alexander John Gaspard Marcet and had four children. She and her husband often hosted gatherings at her home where she kept company with many scientists and authors, including Mary Somerville and Maria Edgeworth. When her husband became interested in chemistry, she conducted experiments with him in their home. Her husband encouraged and supported all of her intellectual pursuits. At the age of 36, she wrote her first book, Conversations on Chemistry, which explained chemistry while supporting and promoting women in science. She then wrote 16 more books on science and education, some of which were children’s books. Her works, in turn, inspired scientists like Michael Faraday and Harriet Martineau.
Michael Faraday, who flourished in the early nineteenth century, was also an autodidact. His family was impoverished, and his father worked as an apprentice to a blacksmith. However, his first job at the age of 14 as an apprentice to a bookbinder and bookseller changed his life. He read the book The Improvement of the Mind by Isaac Watts. This book, along with Marcet’s book, changed his life and inspired him to study the sciences, including electricity, chemistry, and physics.
Other notable autodidacts include:
- Mary Wortley Montagu. Born in the eighteenth century, Montagu received her education by hiding in her home library and reading up on Latin, English, and French literature. After her brother died from smallpox, she educated herself about the disease as well as an unfamiliar smallpox inoculation. She then became a firm advocate for this vaccination, which in turn, saved many lives.
- John Smeaton, who flourished in the eighteenth century as an engineer, is considered the “Father of Civil Engineering,” despite only completing grammar school.
- John Boole was a nineteenth-century professor of mathematics. However, this brilliant mathematician and genius behind Boolean Algebra never received a college degree.
- Buckminster Fuller, the twentieth-century architect, inventor, and author of 30 books, was expelled from Harvard not just once, but twice.
The list of autodidacts is very long and very inspiring. Today pursuing an education outside of a college degree is more than possible. We live in an age of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) where anybody can undertake a free education. Several platforms offer certification after completion of the course. Additionally, some MOOCs offer college credit to apply to a college degree. However, some of these courses require a fee to receive the college credit, and some universities require enrollment before applying the MOOC credit to the degree. That stated, MOOCs can set you on a trajectory to complete a MicroBachelor’s, a MicroMaster’s, a Bachelor’s, or even a Master’s degree. To start searching, three great platforms that offer a comprehensive list of MOOCs and Universities include https://ClassCentral.com, https://Mooc-list.com, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MOOC_providers.
For those of you who have already studied your passion and are still looking for an opportunity to contribute to science, consider the many platforms where you can be a citizen scientist and a conscious autodidact.
One fantastic site for autodidacts and citizen scientists is Zooniverse, found at https://Zooniverse.org. This website is one of the largest platforms for people-powered research. In the Projects section, there are pages and pages of projects to sign up for, including classifying galaxies according to their shape, iguana counting, observing mice, and decoding handwritten historical weather journals from Australia.
With winter upon us, you can contribute to the study of climate change by observing the rain and snowfall. There is a fantastic website called Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, which you can find at https://cocorahs.org. On this website, you can sign up to volunteer and view a training session. This fantastic community walks you through obtaining the appropriate equipment and learning how to measure precipitation, snow, and hail.
If you live in warmer climates and want to observe coral reefs, there is a program called Eyes of the Reef that you can find at https://eorhawaii.org. This website has educational pages that teach you how to train your eyes to find coral bleaching, coral disease, fish disease, and invasive species. As you make your findings, you can then report your results on its website.
If you love to be outdoors, one of my favorite citizen scientist sites includes https://iNaturalist.org. When you join iNaturalist, you become part of an incredible community of nature lovers who take pictures and share their observations. The map of observations is astounding! It is inspiring to see so many people coming together to observe and discuss our beautiful planet.
We all know that air pollution is a severe problem on parts of our planet. What many do not realize is that our world is also contending with light pollution. While it robs us of our ability to see the night sky, light pollution also affects our wildlife and indicates our planet’s energy consumption. Globe at Night, found at https://GlobeAtNight.org, is an international citizen-science campaign to enlighten the public about light pollution. By observing our constellations, you can evaluate the sky and your visibility and then submit your data on the website.
These are just a few citizen scientist sites, but there are many more to explore. Wikipedia offers a substantial list of platforms to join that you can find at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_citizen_science_projects.
If you have always wanted to be a scientist, you do not have to wait for that Ph.D. You can simply start today. By being a citizen scientist, you can contribute to the well-being of our planet, you can discover new celestial clusters, you can observe nature, and you can be the scientist of your favorite subject. The opportunities to get involved are unlimited. The best part is that you can be part of a community and a team that loves science as much as you do. The power of science is incredible and exciting. However, what is even more astounding is the power of people who come together for a scientific purpose.