Day Jobs of Famous People

[Harold Squared]

I have been meaning to make this list for some time in order to commemorate celebrated amateurs, people remembered specifically for activities unrelated to their professions.

 

In no particular order:

 

Socrates, sculptor

Jesus of Nazareth, carpenter

Leibniz, attorney

Einstein, patent clerk

Faraday, bookbinder (apprentice)

Spinoza, optician/lens grinder

Lavoisier, tax collector

Priestley, clergyman/teacher

Dalton, teacher/tutor

Joule, brewer(why not toast him with the next pint?)

Morse, painter(portrait)

Mendel, beekeeper/gardener/friar

Voltaire(Arouet), lawyer

Cervantes, soldier/accountant/tax collector

Henry,(Joseph), watchmaker and silversmith apprentice

Fulton, draftsman/painter

 

Time prevents more on the list at the moment and I have arbitrarily excluded university level teaching, reasoning that this constitutes employment in the specialty the famous person is associated with. Any additions, questions, or comments are most welcome, have fun.

[ACG52]

Patent clerk was not Einstein's profession, It was simply the only job he could get at the time. His profession was physicist. That's what he was educated in.

[Klaynos]

After his apprenticeship Faraday was employed as the assistant to a prominent chemist. These days we'd call him a chemist at that point.

 

I'm wondering what the point of this thread is? The concept of people having science jobs like today is a relatively modern thing.

[StringJunky]

After his apprenticeship Faraday was employed as the assistant to a prominent chemist. These days we'd call him a chemist at that point.

 

I'm wondering what the point of this thread is? The concept of people having science jobs like today is a relatively modern thing.

In this thread I posted the CV of a chap he was using as a reference to support his argument. I think he's trying to make the point that you don't have to be qualified to do something great in another field, but the trouble is the people are quailified, given the era they existed in, for what they are famous for.

[Klaynos]

In this thread I posted the CV of a chap he was using as a reference to support his argument. I think he's trying to make the point that you don't have to be qualified to do something great in another field, but the trouble is the people are quailified, given the era they existed in, for what they are famous for.

Very much so. Joule was educated by some of the best scientist who were alive at the time. He then went on to run the family business (a large brewer). To start with he developed his ideas to make the company more productive.

 

It's a fools game to compare the CV of someone today to someone more than 100 years ago. Education and work are very different.

[CharonY]

Well, one thing almost all of them had in common was the equivalent of higher education in their respective time. And as others have mentioned, the list is also wrong. Another example is Lavoisier, who was not a tax collector. While he was appointed to the Academy of sciences he bought a shares of a financial company that collected taxes.

 

If the point is that many people had held various jobs to make a living, well that is true for most.

Edited June 9, 2015 by CharonY

[swansont]

Patent clerk was not Einstein's profession, It was simply the only job he could get at the time. His profession was physicist. That's what he was educated in.

Right. He had finished up his degree earlier that year and was writing his "miracle year" papers. Day job, perhaps, but not an amateur

[Strange]

People have always had multiple interests. It would be interesting to see how Brian Cox would appear on this list: pop musician? writer? TV presenter? Or maybe physicist...

 

But, as others have noted, things were different in the days of "gentleman scientists".

[Harold Squared]

Patent clerk was not Einstein's profession, It was simply the only job he could get at the time. His profession was physicist. That's what he was educated in.

That is exactly the point, it was his day job, something he did to pay the bills. My apologies if I didn't make the American idiom clear. Socrates of course is remembered for his philosophy, but even in Ancient Greece this evidently did not pay very well. Thanks to everybody for their interest in the subject to date.

 

While I am at it I should have explained the exclusions of polymaths such as Leonardo DaVinci, not because they deserve no merit but from justified controversy regarding which role is their true "vocation". Hopefully this will address Strange's conjecture.

 

Again, my thanks for your time devoted to my little project here.

Well, one thing almost all of them had in common was the equivalent of higher education in their respective time. And as others have mentioned, the list is also wrong. Another example is Lavoisier, who was not a tax collector. While he was appointed to the Academy of sciences he bought a shares of a financial company that collected taxes.

 

If the point is that many people had held various jobs to make a living, well that is true for most.

Thanks for the correction, but I think the distinction was lost on his Revolutionary peers, lopped his head clean off.

 

Damned shame.

 

Anyway, back in the day there was one thing more than formal education in science that was important. That was MONEY, and lots of it. Gauss was lucky to have found a wealthy patron, having come from a poor family. It helped to be a child prodigy, naturally.

 

Some things never change.

Right. He had finished up his degree earlier that year and was writing his "miracle year" papers. Day job, perhaps, but not an amateur

Neither was Cavendish, though from what I understand he did not get a degree. Did a lot of work, important work, but socially very withdrawn and virtually a hermit. Supposedly terrified of women and demanded female servants stay out of his sight. Born into wealth and society and never really took advantage of it but an enviable legacy.

 

Fascinating guy but not on the list.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Harold Squared

[Klaynos]

BSc's were first handed out around 40 years after Cavendish died... The education system was fundamentally different to now.

 

Your analysis is fundamentally flawed. You cannot compare modern education levels to those of the past.

[Harold Squared]

Very much so. Joule was educated by some of the best scientist who were alive at the time. He then went on to run the family business (a large brewer). To start with he developed his ideas to make the company more productive.

 

It's a fools game to compare the CV of someone today to someone more than 100 years ago. Education and work are very different.

True, I suppose, this is really just a diversion, purely for fun, but the fact is there is sort of a tradition of citizen scientists and inventors in this country people can be justifiably inspired by, like three bicycle mechanics from Ohio. Three billion people every year are traveling by air because of them.

BSc's were first handed out around 40 years after Cavendish died... The education system was fundamentally different to now.

 

Your analysis is fundamentally flawed. You cannot compare modern education levels to those of the past.

Didn't you just do exactly that, lol...

 

But I know what you mean by that, things are more formal nowadays, but tradition does linger, even so.

 

As for the guy alluded to on the other thread, who am I to think less of him for trying to understand the science and make a contribution? More than a lot of laymen do. Credentials are nice but they are unfortunately no guarantee of infallibility, or there would be no malpractice suits. So I tend to take a lot of stuff with a grain or more of salt.

 

Anyway guys I am really bowled over by your participation and thoughtful and incisive comments.

 

Strowger(A.Brown), teacher/undertaker

The Great Tsiolkovsky, teacher

 

Like Cavendish, Tsiolkovsky was reclusive though he did marry and have children. Remarkably he appears largely to be a true autodidact, largely self schooled due to poor hearing, which in all probability contributed to his reclusive nature. For this achievement and the sheer soaring imagination of the man I have endowed the title "Great", a purely subjective gesture.

[GeoChair]

I find this more inspiring than any other motivational poster. It's good to know that our favorite inventors kept "boring" day jobs before they made it big. I'm a budding programmer myself and I have been working on a new geocaching game inspired by geotoad, but while I'm working on my passion, I still have to make sure there's food on the table. For my day job, I'm behind the counter at a horror movie store.

[ajb]

More than a lot of laymen do.

Less so today I think. I don't see much evidence of true laypeople making contributions to science. The exception maybe astronomy where many 'small eyes' can be better than one big expensive one that you have to use your grant money to book well in advance.

 

Credentials are nice but they are unfortunately no guarantee of infallibility, or there would be no malpractice suits.

True, but not many scientists get sued for being wrong, thankfully.

 

 

There are two problems here. First, as already mentioned the education system in the past was different and so one needs to take care trying to compare the situation with today. Secondly, one must also take care in comparing the average scientist today with the great names of the past. I am not sure how much one can really say about what is typical by looking at extraordinary and exceptionally talented people who with a big of good luck made history.

 

And just back to Einstein quickly. Einstein's biggest disservice to science was not being able to find a teaching position early in his career. This has opened the myth of him being a layperson.

[Harold Squared]

At no time have I alleged that Einstein was a "layman" or any of the others on the list. To get on the list a person need only have to be principally remembered for things other than the jobs they did to pay the bills. And they are just "famous people", some philosophical or literary figures. Reportedly Einstein found the work at the patent office both inspiring, as many of the patents involved clocks and timekeeping, and sufficiently undemanding that he had considerable time to devote to hand waving, er, theorizing.

I find this more inspiring than any other motivational poster. It's good to know that our favorite inventors kept "boring" day jobs before they made it big. I'm a budding programmer myself and I have been working on a new geocaching game inspired by geotoad, but while I'm working on my passion, I still have to make sure there's food on the table. For my day job, I'm behind the counter at a horror movie store.[/size]

Thank you and best wishes for your success in all things. I am most pleased to be of service. If you want to design more realistic space games I suggest W. Chung's Project Rho website. Again, my thanks for the feedback.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Harold Squared

[Harold Squared]

Honorable mention to the truly impressive Chudnovsky brothers, formally trained and justly renowned as mathematicians, part of their legacy is in art restoration and preservation, documented in a NOVA PBS program.

[swansont]

At no time have I alleged that Einstein was a "layman" or any of the others on the list. To get on the list a person need only have to be principally remembered for things other than the jobs they did to pay the bills.

 

Over the ~50 years after getting his degree, Einstein undoubtedly made the bulk of his income from physics. Just not in 1905. You didn't call them laymen, but you did say "celebrated amateurs, people remembered specifically for activities unrelated to their professions" which is simply not true for Einstein. He was not an amateur, nor was his work unrelated to his profession.

[CharonY]

Also, this is in the amateur science section, which does not makes a lot of sense for the vast majority of the listed people.