Are modern scientific discoveries of importance ever made by amateurs (as opposed to institutions)?

Question

By discoveries of importance, I mean things that hit the headlines. I know the individual amateur, no matter how gifted, is unlikely to have the same finacial or networking abilities as a recognised institution (for example, a University), but I'm sure this is not all that matters?

By science I mean anything using empirical data or analytical study as it's basis- physics, medicine, botany, psychology, archaeology.. etc.

Thanks!

Answer 1

That depends on what you mean by "modern". Darwin was an amateur and look at the body of work he turned out. Not all of us are as rich as the Darwin-Wedgewood line and, as you noted, financial backing is hard to come by if you are an amateur. Still, it is theoretically possible. Most advances are based on previously-published material and some of it comes from amateurs.

Answer 2

It depends on the field. It still happens in both archaeology and paleontology.

Answer 3

I dunno about other sciences but several observations in astronomy are made by amateurs who have enough passion to pursue the subject and several of the them actively contribute their findings to institutions for further study.