>>> In the first half of the XXth century, there were relatively few scientists, and these scientists were generally not lavishly funded This statement may not

>>> In the first half of the XXth century, there were relatively few scientists, and these scientists were generally not lavishly funded This statement may not be entirely accurate. Philosophers, scientists and mathematicians in the early 20th century and before that were independently wealthy or had some sort of “royal” patronage that allowed them to pursue their interests for “public good”. Things changed in the later part of the 20th century but a scientist was a rarified breed until the 1970s. I don’t think most people had the means to pursue a scientific career. Grants and funding exploded at the end of the 20th century and foreign students (especially from China and India) provided the “cheap labor” that’s needed for a lot of the STEM fields PhD/post-doc armies. This has essentially led to a proliferation of scientists in academia. Abundance of school loans means universities can expand teaching faculty and then add research responsibility. It’s a vicious cycle. At least this is my hypothesis.