Why do scientists regard academia as necessary?

Out of my own education, the science class that I regard as the very-most valuable with Caltech's "Physics X", taught by Richard Feynman. There were no grades, no homework, no tests. One did not register for the class ahead of time, one could come and go as one pleased.

One could ask any question one wanted, provided Dr. Feynman was not required to work out any math. It's not like he didn't know how to, rather that he felt conceptual understanding was far more important than the understanding that comes from following derivations.

Pierre Fermat totally stymied more than three hundred years of the world's very finest mathematicians with his famous Last Theorem - while serving as a magistrate of the French Court.

We've had universities since medieval times, however it is only recently that universities have served science.

It is also only recently that one attended a university to prepare for a career. Consider that I have a degree in Physics, despite that I work as a coder. In my actual experience I am often able to do work that those with Computer Science degrees are unable to.

(I expect that some CS graduates could perform Physics research that I myself would be unable to, were they only to try.)

Would you like to do research? To publish? Win the Nobel Prize? Score with graduate students?

Just carry around a notebook.

If you see something that you don't fully understand, write it down. You might forget, or if you remember the phenomenon, you might not remember it accurately.

If you find a phenomenon that you can't explain, try to find some way to explain it. perhaps it's in wikipedia. Or if not, perhaps it's in scientific american magazine. or if not, perhaps it's in the astrophysical journal.

Maybe you've discovered something totally new, or if not, you are the very first to take interest in any otherwise unnoticed phenomenon, or perhaps the first to explain it.

If you can explain it, publish your explanation.

Don't gripe about the peer-reviewed journals - publish it on your website. If you have a Sitemaps Protocol file - http://www.sitemaps.org/ - then The Wayback Machine will eventually pick it up.

"Peer Review", for me, consists of mentioning something I'm working on at Kuro5hin, then getting flamed mercilessly for it. The way I see my colleagues at Kuro5hin, is much like the reason Inspector Clouseau requested that Kato attack him with sophisticated martial arts whenever he entered his apartment.

"Citation" is getting linked.

"What about research grants?" you may reasonably ask.

When I was at the Institute, there was an Astronomy Professor who had never been awarded a grant in her entire career - no doubt due to sexism, as the grants are awarded by anonymous committee members.

She was real pissed off about this, but didn't let her lack of funding get her down; she paid for her research by operating a recycling center on the side.

I'm good enough at Physics that I figure I could get tenure were I to complete my doctorate.

But I don't want to be part of the system. It was pointed out to me in 1993 that there were too many postdocs, and not enough professorial seats.

I'd like to publish, but really, I don't see the point of completing my PhD or even applying for a postdoc fellowship.

However, I do carry a laboratory notebook around with me.

And I do publish - on my own website.

(BTW - I didn't decide to be a scientist when I was sixteen; I decided to be a Chemist at first, when I was but eight years old.)