THE SCIENTIST

PROFESSION

January 22, 1990 THE SCIENTIST 19

 

Senior Scientists Face Funding Hurdles

By JULIA

dy eae i. wd ne

In 1984, biologist Maurice Hille-

man—a Lasker award winner, a re- -

cipient of the. National Medal of
Science, and a man who had pion-
eered more than a dozen vaccines—
found himself out of a job, Hilleman,
who had worked for 27 years at the
West Point, Pa.-based Merck Sharp
and Dohme Laboratories, was a se-
nior vice president and director of
vaccine research at the pharmaceuti-
cal company. The fact that he was
one of the firm’s most productive
scientists and that he didn’t want to
leave his post didn’t matter,

Likewise, biologist Marvin
Weinstein, formerly vice president
for microbiology and DNA research
at. Schering-Plough Corp. in Madi-
son, N.J., found himself unemployed
nine years ago. Weinstein, who had
joined the company in 1956 as a
bench scientist and worked his way
through the ranks, was a corporate
executive as well as a scientist.

The problem? Both Hilleman and
Weinstein had reached the age of 65.
As executives, they were exempt
from age-discrimination laws that
prohibit mandatory retirement for

 

wa teed bee

 

 

 

 

 

Mandatory Retirement

the resources of its older and most
experienced scientists. Ongoing re-
search includes numerous univer-
sity-based studies concerning the re-
lationship between age and scientific
research performance. The National
Academy of Sciences is currently
investigating the ways in which
eliminating mandatory retirement
for university professors might af-
fect science education. To date, how-
ever, no one set of conclusions has
been reached or has become widely
accepted, In the meantime, many se-
nior scientists maintain that they are
being prematurely put out to pasture
despite both a desire and the physical
and mental wherewithal to continue
their work.

wre
40% of researchers awarded NSF.

funds.

For many: scientists, this can
“mean two decades with no support
' for being productive. “This is a seri-

ous problem,” says NIA’s Riley.

“But McCullough says one cannot |

assume from these data that senior
applicants are consistently declined
-by NSF. Rather, he says, “what it
;comes’ down to is. whether an
-applicant’ 's peers believe him to be
the cutting edge.”

‘All too often, however, it is as-
‘sumed that anyone over a certain age
‘cannot “possibly be on the cutting
‘edge, says Nobelist Linus Pauling, a

  

‘chemist who has outlived his life -
“expectancy at birth by 40 years. At”

_age 88, Pauling has retired himself
‘as director of the Linus Pauling In-

“stitute of Science and Medicine in
«Palo Alto, Calif. He does continue
‘research on the nature of metal al-
‘loys, but over the past few years he
jhas been declined an NSF grant for
“his work four consecutive times. .
“Last year, Pauling did receive
““NSP’s, Vannevar Bush Award, which
jis conferred periodically on a senior

 
 

 

 
  
  
  
 

“contributions in his field. The award,
hich is honorary and carries no fi-
ancial stipend, is designed to en-
ourage individuals to seek the high-
‘est levels of achievement in science,

_scientist who has made outstanding.

engineering, and service to human-

* ity. It is also designed, according to

NSF, to complement the
foundation’s Alan T. Waterman
Award to a promising young scien-
tist, an award that, by comparison,
carries a grant of up to $500,000 over
a three-year period.

“I was rather amused that at ex-
actly the same time I was receiving
the Vannevar Bush Award, I was
being turned down again for a. re-

_ search grant,” Pauling says. “In giv-

ing me the award, the chairman of
the NSF board reviewed all of the.
contributions I made to science in
the ‘past, and didn’t say anything
about what I was doing at the pres-
ent. Meanwhile, I work just as many
hours as I ever did, and I’ve pub-
lished more papers per year in the

last 10 to 15 years than when I was

- younger.” Qo

 

Julia King is a freelance science writer
based in Ridley Park, Pa.

 

Part! of a two-part series, to be
continued in the Feb. 5, 1990, issue of
The Scientist. Jn Part iT, The Scientist
examines opportunities for senior
| scientists. Also, eminent researchers,
including Pauling and 83-year-old
computer scientist Admiral Grace
Hopper, offer suggestions on how older
researchers can remain productive.