E.T. Bell called Fermat the Prince of Amateurs. One hundred years ago Ramanujan amazed the mathematical world. In between were many important amateurs and mathematicians off the beaten path, but what about the last one hundred years? Is it still possible for an amateur to make a significant contribution to mathematics? Can anyone cite examples of important works done by amateur mathematicians in the last one hundred years?
For a definition of amateur:
I think that to make the term "amateur" meaningful, it should mean someone who has had no formal instruction in mathematics past undergraduate school and does not maintain any sort of professional connection with mathematicians in the research world. – Harry Gindi
Motivation: I am a 54 year old amateur mathematician and my circumstances are such that I will never be a professional mathematician. I have researched tetration since 1972 and have one of the main web sites on the subject that are on the web. I strongly question the utility of web sites like my own. I see considerable numbers of amateur mathematicians researching tetration and bluntly am worried that they are wasting their time on a subject they don't have the tools to research.
