. . THE SCIENTIST January 22,199O THE SCIENTIST 19 PROFESSION Senior Scientists Face Funding Hudes. Mandatory Retirement BYJUIUCNG 0 Pi,. \ a .,, : ., I" .,, I 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 Drohibit mandatory retirement for 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. ~40% of researchers awarded NSF funds. " For m&y 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 :on,,the cutting edge." ?:`:;A11 too often, however, it is as- ,;,~yqcl that anyone over a certain age Fannot possibly be on the cutting iedge, says Nobelist Linus Pauling. a j'chemist who has outlived his life :`&cpeetancy at birth by 40 years. At y?ge 88. Pauling has retired himself :`as director of the Linus Pauling In- "stitutk of Science and Medicine in ,Palo Alto, Calif. He does continue "&earch on the nature of metal al- j'i.oys. but over the past few years he ,@* been declined an NSF grant for ,J$s &rk four consecutive times. ;Y."' Last year, Pau!ing did receive "`$NSF's,Vannevar Bush Award, which e,i; conferred periodically on a senior &cientist who hai made outstanding %~ontributions in his field. The award, ;?@ich is hoqorary and carries no fi- ~nancial stipend, is designed to en- ,i,$ourage individuals to seek the high- $cst levels of achievement in science, 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 yeaqin the last 10 to 15 years than when I was younger." 0 Julia King is afivelance science witer fmedinRidiqyPark,Pa. Pm 1 @a tnv? se&s, to he contindintheFeb.5,19s1o,issueqf Jhe Scimdst in Pats II, The Scii ewrmnes igpcmnitiesfo senlbr sc*. Also, eminent researchers, inctig Paul@ ands3-yeardd coqmter&ntistAGrme Hqper,q@rsuggestionscmhowolder rem&em can remhfud4dw.