Which also raises the question whether there should be a similarly venerable(and compensated) position reserved for researchers who don't teach? Being a staff

Which also raises the question whether there should be a similarly venerable(and compensated) position reserved for researchers who don't teach? Being a staff scientist at a national lab is about as close as you can get to this in the US. Compared to being a professor you'll get similar money (sometimes more), less prestige, more time for research and slightly more annoying bureaucracy. There's upsides and downsides of each.