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>My question for the >PaleoNet is, How many people pursue micropaleontology as a hobby these >days? I've never met even one such person. I've known several. The typical scenario is an older person, often already degreed, who comes to the university to take a course to satisfy his own interest, is persuaded to take more courses and maybe a degree, and undertakes a research project. It may be someone who is retired from a first career, or a wife who cannot find employment in her own field in the city where her husband works, or an older woman who raised a family and has never worked and does not need to work. Attrition is high, though. Most leave after a short time to do something else (take a paying job, start a family, go to law school, move to a retirement colony). Some discover they are unwilling to restrict their broad interests in natural science to focus on one area. Recall that the 19th Century amateur naturalist was an upper-class phenomenon, a gentleman or lady of leisure. In our society everyone has a job and regards education as preparation for getting a job, and unpaid work is not valued. (Even universities measure research by external funding $$$.) Having qualified themselves for employment, few people can resist accepting it when the opportunity comes. In those days when everything was new, the person who could afford a microscope, who had leisure for observations, and who had some talent for sketching could make a contribution. Many 19th century papers would not be deemed publishable by reviewers today, however. The aspiring avocational micropaleontologist who is fascinated by the beauty of these creatures can become discouraged by the need for such ugly things as statistics and isotope geochemistry, especially if the route has to start with undergraduate math and science courses. The avocational micropaleontologist needs access to institutional laboratory facilities, equipment, literature, and an advisor/mentor/co-researcher. But universities are structured for courses and degrees. Measures of "productivity" make it difficult to accommodate those who don't want to study for courses, earn grades, pay tuition, and complete degrees. I believe that museums, with their volunteer docents, short courses for patrons, guided tours to exotic lands, and pay-your-own-way digs will be able to serve this need more effectively than universities can. >In the late nineteenth century, natural history was a big fad, and people >pressed leaves, caught beetles, and peered into microscopes. They obviously >didn't have television, radio, cinema, or recorded music to distract them, >and a fair amount of this work was published. > >Some of these amateur natural historians specialized in studying diatoms, >forams, and other beautiful microscopic organisms. > >Andrew K. Rindsberg Telephone (205) 349-2852 >Curator, Paleontological Collection Telefax (205) 349-2861 >Geological Survey of Alabama <arindsberg@ogb.gsa.tuscaloosa.al.us> >P.O. Box O >Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-9780, USA Dr. Rosalie F. Maddocks, Professor Department of Geosciences, University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-5503 U.S.A. rmaddocks@uh.edu 713-743-3429 http://www.uh.edu/academics/nsm/geosc/geosciences.html http://www.uh.edu/academics/nsm/geosc/IRGO.html
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