A few days ago I picked up a copy of Time magazine, which featured several of the most prominent scientists of this century. One of the most prominent was, of course, Albert Einstein. Then later, I read the Opinion page by Nejat Düzgünes in the April 12 issue of The Scientist.1 The juxtaposition of these two articles got me thinking: What would have happened if Albert Einstein had been required to submit to a funding agency in Switzerland a grant proposal to study relativity but under the same requirements and documentation of funding agencies today? He wouldn't have stood a chance of being funded.
Consider:
But there is more to the granting agencies than the narrowness of view, or the other requirements that Dr. Einstein could not meet. For example, I once submitted a grant proposal to a federal agency to study the effects of nitric oxide on a particular ...
