2023-04-22 17:30:11
Amateurs have long played a key role in the production of scientific knowledge. Nathalie Richard, science historian at the Time, Worlds, Societies (Temos) laboratory, a joint CNRS-university unit of Angers, South Brittany and Le Mans, explains how this professionalization took place between 1850 and 1950. She rehabilitates the role of amateurs, at a time when institutions are rediscovering their interest in participatory research.
Why take an interest in amateur scientists in France between 1850 and 1950?
This is a period when science is becoming more professional, scientific institutions are developing. We are witnessing a distribution of roles: to professionals laboratory work, synthesis and theory. The rest is left to amateurs, in particular the collection of field information. The narrative written by the major institutions marginalizes amateurs, delegitimizes them. This is why, with my colleagues Hervé Guillemain and Laurence Guignard, we wanted to write this story from the point of view of amateurs, rather than institutions. We show that the global history of science is more complex and pluricentric than we think.
Who are they ?
The typical amateur is a man belonging to the new classes of the bourgeoisie. The few women often work with their husband or father. They are a little more numerous between the two wars, because they have more access to studies. The amateur has studied medicine, law, engineering or military training. The production of scientific knowledge interests him, but it is not his main motivation. He appreciates the social and aesthetic dimension. He is interested in astronomy, natural sciences, such as geology, paleontology, entomology, archaeology… Health is also a place where amateurs and professionals rub shoulders. Others invest in the field of techniques: photography, then radio and cinema, with a do-it-yourself side, the « do it yourself » as it looks today. The amateur is linked to the economic world, there is a market around instruments and collections.
How do amateurs fund their research?
They usually have means related to their profession or an aristocratic heritage. Searches are inexpensive in equipment, but time consuming. Some buy expensive instruments (an astronomical observatory, for example). Others, more modest, such as priests or teachers, benefit from some public aid. Amateurs meet in learned societies, take part in congresses, get informed through publications, exchange their bulletins… They have a desire to contribute to the public good, through patronage, the creation of museums, conferences …
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