Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave2042
Thought I'd add a bit on my own experience.
- Back to science first year, no longer a teenager. Loved it to bits, worked hard and eventually got Honours in Astrophysics.
- Immediately left for finance and have had a long, interesting and happy career, while still enjoying science and astronomy as an amateur.
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The world is full of people who did qualifications in astronomy and never actually worked as astronomers afterwards.
However, a surprising number of them still work in engineering or science or information technology, though not actually in astronomy.
Others of them do interesting astronomical work in a "non paid capacity"
Also, some of the top amateur astronomers are really straining the definition of "hobbyist". For instance, the members of the BOSS supernova search team, have had their names put on as co-authors of a scientific paper. In other words, the paper written by these people will be cited by professional astronomers, and they will have a citation record, which is a defining characteristic of the professional scientist.
Years ago, I wrote to Dennis Webb (an amateur astronomer), the keeper of a magnificent website about the Arp Galaxies, saying to him that it must be wonderful for him that his website is regularly cited in astronomical papers.
However, he was not (at the time) aware that his work was being used by professional astronomers!!
He had always seen himself as "an amateur", yet his work was good enough to be cited in several scientific papers.
cheers, madbadgalaxyman