How do/did scientists, especially theoretical physicists, publish papers whenever they wanted to?

Question

is theoretical research different from regular research? like are they not required to get an institution (a uni or a research center) to back them?

i’ve also read similar things about papers in the field of math and i think chemistry too about historical figures publishing while working unrelated jobs

In: Physics

Answer 1

>is theoretical research different from regular research? like are they not required to get an institution (a uni or a research center) to back them?

Typically, people need money. As such, theoretical scientists will typically work for an institute that will pay them. This means they can focus on their research. Someone with the right background could choose to do science in their spare time if they wished, but doing it in your spare time is a lot harder.

Working for an institute and being funded by a research body also means that a professor could potentially take on PhD students and/or postdocs to help them research certain topics, more easily gain access to collaboration with peers, be provided with necessary software and computer hardware, potentially pay an open-access publishing fee, etc.

While the vast majority of journals do not require you to have an affiliation to get published, some are “single blind” review, meaning that the peers reviewing your paper see your details and may potentially be biased. This is not the case for all though, and even for the ones where it is the research should speak for itself if good enough.