Amateur

[2] Historically, the amateur was considered to be the ideal balance between pure intent, open mind, and the interest or passion for a subject.

The Royal Society in Great Britain was generally composed of these "gentleman amateurs", and is one of the reasons science today exists the way it does.

A few examples of these gentleman amateurs are Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington.

On the other hand, an amateur may be in a position to approach a subject with an open mind (as a result of the lack of formal training) and in a financially disinterested manner.

Later on, the nations of the Communist Bloc entered teams of Olympians who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.

[6] The decision was reversed in January 1970 after IOC President Avery Brundage said that ice hockey's status as an Olympic sport would be in jeopardy if the change was made.

The IOC had adopted a rule that made any player who had signed an NHL contract but played less than ten games in the league eligible.

[9] Canadian hockey official Alan Eagleson stated that the rule was only applied to the NHL and that professionally contracted players in European leagues were still considered amateurs.

[17] Radio itself was greatly advanced by Guglielmo Marconi, a young Italian man who started out by tinkering with a coherer and a spark coil as an amateur electrician.