# Last Physicist to fund his own research

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-physicist-to-fund-his-own-research/911881>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-physicist-to-fund-his-own-research/911881 "2020-06-22T17:37:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-physicist-to-fund-his-own-research/911881/21 "2020-06-27T22:38:00Z")

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Not to hijack the thread, but wouldn’t Stephen Wolfram qualify?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-physicist-to-fund-his-own-research/911881/22 "2020-06-28T12:52:55Z")

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Perhaps an edge case, in that he made his initial wealth in mathematical software, a field not so far removed from physics, and then made further money by selling books about his physics work. But he’s certainly a legitimate physicist (fringe, but that’s not the same thing as illegitimate).

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