That's just not true for any sort of science that requires significant collaboration or infrastructure. Things like modern medicine or high energy physics are

That's just not true for any sort of science that requires significant collaboration or infrastructure. Things like modern medicine or high energy physics are completely unaccessible to individuals when it comes to doing worthwile things. And on top of that some of these fields very much require government licensing, since you can't just let normal people play with radioactive materials or go around injecting drugs into patients.