The prerequisite seems to only be about a century old in western academia. Michael Faraday, James Maxwell, Betrand Russel, et al didn't have PhDs. Faraday act

The prerequisite seems to only be about a century old in western academia. Michael Faraday, James Maxwell, Betrand Russel, et al didn't have PhDs. Faraday actually had no university at all. Edit: Ah, apparently doctorates weren't even broadly granted in the sciences until about a century ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy#History