The key element in choosing one who is eligible to get an award is to determine whose idea works or who insistently pursues the idea that has been given up by the original seeker. It is unfair or wrong to emphasize, especially with the current explosion of knowledge, that the students or fellows have no right to share a prize because they are dependent researchers, regardless of whether they were a real impetus in the discovery for which the award was issued. The person, no matter what level he or she is in science, independent or dependent, should be credited when an award-deserved contribution is made on the basis of his or her idea and persistent effort.
The prejudice that graduate students or postdocs are not warranted for a prestigious award owing only to the nature of their dependence has to be corrected and the acknowledgment of their indispensable role ...
