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:
- He had no track record in the area he proposed to study. He had never studied it before.
- He had no or very few publications in the field. Everyone knows you have to have published in the field you intend to study to stand...
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