AbstractAmateur scientists are concentrated in disciplines which do not require laboratory facilities or extensive training in theory, for instance ornithology and astronomy. Within this restriction, amateur scientists offer much. Some are amongst their fields' best known scientists, partly because of their ability to communicate via the mass media.Amateur science societies provide a training ground for giving lectures and writing in scientific journals, although sometimes professional members tend to make the publications too specialist. Such societies may have considerably more members (especially women) than their professional counterparts. Thus they provide an important involvement for social groups not otherwise catered for.