Even as comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth, watched closely by scientists and enthusiastic amateurs, co-discoverer Alan Hale is seeking to draw attention to a different problem here on the ground. Hale is circulating a letter on the internet to other scientists, using his ``fifteen minutes of fame '' to focus on the sorry state of science funding in the U. S. and the struggle that scientists like him have in finding a decent job in science.
Inspired by science even in his childhood and determined to pursue a career in science, Hale, despite his fame, has not found employment that allows him to pursue his research interests. Given the current scarcity of positions even for those who, like him, have ``devoted our lives to making some of our own contributions '', he says that he finds himself unable to encourage present-day students to take up science as a profession. In a poignant line, Hale asks others ``who are on their second or third or fourth post-doc (i.e.temporary research positions), or who have left the field due to the employment situation, or who have experienced severe personal difficulties (e.g. break-up of a marriage, etc. )'' to write to him. He wants to show to government leaders and the media that ``we are not a bunch of impersonal statistics, but...human beings trying to make a honest living and perhaps make a contribution or two to society while we're at it.''
Statistics indicate that in the U. S. unemployment among scientists and engineers is only 1.5 per cent. Hale, of course, found a job after his Ph. D. . But it was an under-paid one, that under-utilised his scientific skills. And this is probably true of several others in the same situation.
Hale is one of a growing band of scientists working on large projects, especially in astronomy and astrophysics, who have been particularly hard-hit in the recent funding crisis in science the world-over. In a note prefacing a survey in 1994, the U. S. based Association of Research Astronomers pointed out that a large number of professionals in the field were unable to find decent permanent employment despite years of high-quality experience. These were people who were essential to several major projects like the Hubble Space Telescope or the Galileo mission and represented a valuable pool of highly specialised scientific skills. They were also essential to scientific administration and performed essential service work for the community, including the refereeing of research grants and research papers. The dropping out of research of such people would represent a major loss for the future.
Nevertheless they have found it almost impossible to get tenured faculty positions in universities and laboratories. Together with the shortage of jobs, the odds are also weighted against those who have spent long years on project work. The survey went on to document the hard work and low morale that characterises the life of this contract labour class in science.
A recent American best-seller by writer John Horgan, titled `` The
End of Science'' claimed that science has reached the end of the road
with few interesting questions left to pursue. But it seems that the real
danger of the end of science comes instead from a society
that has little thought for those who, like Alan Hale, would
devote their lives to the pursuit of knowledge.