What is a Citizen Scientist?

In his "Wanderings" column in this installment of The Citizen Scientist, Ralph Coppola poses a question for all of us who are in any way involved in citizen science. Ralph asks, "What do you think a Citizen Scientist is?"

Amateur and professional scientists have very different answers to Ralph's question.

Neal Lane, former director of the National Science Foundation, has expressed his ideas about citizen science in various talks and in print. In "The Citizen Scientist," which was published in the November 2003 issue of Physics Today, Dr. Lane compared modern scientists who return something to the community with Benjamin Franklin's development of the volunteer fire department.

In a panel discussion on future federal funding of science and engineering at Rutgers University on 8 April 1996, Dr. Lane expanded on his ideas about citizen science. "I believe that leadership from the science and engineering community now requires a much more public and civic persona--that of the citizen scientist and engineer," Lane wrote. "We are needed more than ever to be visible and vocal in our communities. This requires our presence outside the gates of our universities, the walls of our laboratories, and the routine of our offices."

Lane seems to be describing the need for professional scientists to double as citizens who actively promote science and its public funding. Materials scientist Rustom Roy has another view, and Ralph links to it in his column. In "Citizen-scientist: an oxymoron?," Dr. Roy looks at the other side of the funding coin when he writes, "The operative question for citizen-scientists is not how much money we get, but what we produce with it."

Those who pursue amateur science can certainly relate to Roy's point, for we are directly responsible for the science we produce. If we squander our personal funds on a poorly chosen project, we have only ourselves to blame.

The issue of funding brings up a contentious issue, for some purists among us amateur scientists believe that those who earn a living from doing science have sold out and are no longer traditional amateur scientists. This standard limits amateur scientists either to those who support themselves in fields unrelated to science or who have inherited wealth or are on the public dole. Moreover, this standard does not hold up when an amateur scientist who earns a living from science continues to do science away from work.

My standing as an amateur scientist (my university degree is in government) was once criticized on the grounds that my book writing and consulting contracts crossed the line between amateur and professional science. Is it not good when an amateur scientist can support his or her family by doing professional science? There's also the issue of spare time science. While much of my income is from doing science and technology, no one has ever paid for my studies of pollen coronas, the ozone layer, solar ultraviolet, photosynthetic radiation, twilight studies, sun and sky photography, subcanopy irradiance, annual growth rings of Taxodium distichum, and the extraordinarily beautiful and rare Chorioactis geaster fungus that is found only at Kyushu, Japan, and six Texas counties, including my research site. Do not such independent studies qualify as amateur science when the investigator has no formal academic credentials? Would it not be good to expand such studies should funding become available? Or is it best for the amateur to step aside and wait for the professionals to take over?

A key area where professional and citizen scientists can both make a contribution is government service. Mike Riley does not do science, but he is keenly informed and very good with computers. He and I represent our city and county on two government environmental committees. Mike and I receive no compensation or expense reimbursements for our many trips to attend committee meetings. Never do I feel more like a citizen scientist than when debating with an uninformed bureaucrat who rejects the well established urban heat island effect or who erroneously believes asthma incidence would decline significantly if people stopped driving cars.

So what do you think about Ralph's question" "What do you think a Citizen Scientist is?" Send your comments to "Backscatter."

Forrest M. Mims III