Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Story - Fable? - of Academic Merit and (Non)Reward

See Kenneth Chang, "Man Who Set Stage for a Nobel Now Lives a Life Outside Science," NYTimes Online (October 16, 2008).

How often does this sort of thing happen?

the dynamic evidence page

consulting on investigation strategy and the law of evidence

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

it happens! because of scholarly politics, my uncle wasn't awarded a Ph.D. for his pioneering work in Australian geology so he became a school teacher (and, in fairness, he was a prickly character).

After his death, the Australian National Library contacted me because they wanted his papers for their archives, but I had to tell him that his widow had burnt them "because no-one is interested in his work".

Felix

Anonymous said...

it happens! because of scholarly politics, my uncle wasn't awarded a Ph.D. for his pioneering work in Australian geology so he became a school teacher (and, in fairness, he was a prickly character).

After his death, the Australian National Library contacted me because they wanted his papers for their archives, but I had to tell him that his widow had burnt them "because no-one is interested in his work".

Felix

Unknown said...

Yes, I believe it does happen; and I think it -- unrecognized scholarly achievement -- happens more often than one might think -- precisely because "unrecognized achievement" in question is not widely recognized.
The British, I have long thought, know better than most how to handle prickly geniuses: the British give their prickly academics endearing or familiarizing names -- e.g., idiosyncratic, woolly[sp?]-headed, etc. -- and put up with the foibles and irritating habits of such people. U.S. law schools are much less tolerant of faculty members' personal foibles. Perhaps that's because law schools are generally as wedded to power as they are to truth.