Certainly, during a lifetime in academia, I have observed that the most successful professors are not the ones who work on what they like (with very few outstan

Certainly, during a lifetime in academia, I have observed that the most successful professors are not the ones who work on what they like (with very few outstanding exceptions) but instead are those who learn to like what they must work on. Where 'must work on' is defined pretty much by what is described in this well informed article. The funding trends and the ability to anticipate them so as to be amongst the first in the line being the most important. Knowing the right people certainly not to be neglected. Ability to do any kind of useful or worthwhile science a long way down the list. This undesirable trend has been lately exacerbated by the race for the funding and the attendant unhealthy over competitiveness. Academia is now a very different world to what it used to be, where a fellow would get enough ad-hominem funding, on the strength of his proven ability and membership of an elite college. Indeed, without that, the phrase 'academic freedom' has lost most of its meaning. I believe that 'academic whoredom' would much more fittingly describe the current state of affairs.