Over the centuries, the credentials needed to carry out scientific research have been in flux. Only recently has science become an occupation. In earlier days, science was something for those with the luxury to dedicate their leisure time or spiritual time to follow their curiosity.
In the 1600s, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered microorganisms. His professional background? A cloth merchant who learned to make excellent lenses to judge the weave of fabrics. Eventually, he made lenses more powerful than microscopes at that time, which allowed him to curiously examine mucky pond water and plaque on teeth and find tiny life, earning him the title of father of microbiology. Gregor Mendel filled many of his days as a monk with experimental breeding of pea plants to understand how traits are hereditary. That earned him the title of father of genetics. Charles Darwin was a companion to Captain FitzRoy of the Beagle with time to see the world before planning to return and become a parson. Darwin’s later days were part of a shift in science.
Not only was science becoming a profession, the precursors to citizen science was beginning: Darwin and others started crowdsourcing for data through letters in which people shared their observations from around the world. In more recent history, fellow citizen scientists have continued to accomplish the remarkable.
Citizen science has contributed hugely to entomology. The mystery of monarch butterfly migration had long eluded scientists until Fred Urquhart and Norah Patterson began experimenting with techniques to affix unique tags to butterflies. Once these scientists identified a way to attach a tag to the butterfly without harming their sensitive wings, they realized that more people were needed to help them tag as many monarchs as possible. In 1952, they asked for the help of thousands of volunteers and started a monarch tagging program, which eventually became the modern-day Monarch Watch.
