4 ms·

The argument does not hold any sort of deeper inspection. The greats of quantum mechanics, people like Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger etc. we're all professors,

The argument does not hold any sort of deeper inspection. The greats of quantum mechanics, people like Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger etc. we're all professors, which at the time put you up in the highest ranks of the middle class or the lower upper class + the status of the title it implied in Germany for example. They were amongst the highest paid salaried employees. In comparison now a typical professor salary is lower than what many junior software developers get straight out of undergrad. And that is after years of job uncertainty through PhD, postdocs and tenure track. Essentially the only ones left do out of idealism. (I also believe this long uncertainty is a big factor in the large gender imbalance, women are much less tolerant of this then men) The other irony is that Teller himself was part (came out) of one of the biggest counter examples. The Los Alamos project pushed unprecedented funding into science, and it let to many discoveries that would have taken decades longer otherwise.

kmmlng 4y ago
Since you specifically mention Germany: professors are incredibly well paid in Germany and also enjoy high social status. Of course, a lot of them don't do any science, they are the CEO equivalent of an institute. Salaries for PhDs and PostDocs are a different story of course. They are alright in theory, but often you can only get a part time job, which in reality means a > full time job with a part time salary.
- cycomanic 4y ago
  I was specifically talking about the days of the founders of quantum mechanics or even the times of Teller et al.. Today professors are in fact not that incredibly paid anymore in Germany. Sure they still have reasonably high salaries but compared to junior developers they earn approximately the same. Regarding PhD students yes depending on field, you might get a half position, however I'm not aware that postdocs get low paid positions. Compared to the US differences between professor and PhD salaries are much lower AFAIK.
- benibela 4y ago
  >professors are incredibly well paid in Germany and also enjoy high social status. Around 80k €/year as W2 professor base salary Post-tax 55k € Guess that might be considered incredibly well paid in Germany

kmmlng 4y ago

Since you specifically mention Germany: professors are incredibly well paid in Germany and also enjoy high social status. Of course, a lot of them don't do any science, they are the CEO equivalent of an institute. Salaries for PhDs and PostDocs are a different story of course. They are alright in theory, but often you can only get a part time job, which in reality means a > full time job with a part time salary.

cycomanic 4y ago
I was specifically talking about the days of the founders of quantum mechanics or even the times of Teller et al.. Today professors are in fact not that incredibly paid anymore in Germany. Sure they still have reasonably high salaries but compared to junior developers they earn approximately the same. Regarding PhD students yes depending on field, you might get a half position, however I'm not aware that postdocs get low paid positions. Compared to the US differences between professor and PhD salaries are much lower AFAIK.
benibela 4y ago
>professors are incredibly well paid in Germany and also enjoy high social status. Around 80k €/year as W2 professor base salary Post-tax 55k € Guess that might be considered incredibly well paid in Germany