Alan Hale - An open letter...

[Ha Le <ha@math.wayne.edu>]

Below is a note that has been forwarded to me which may be of 
interest.
cheers, Thien Quang
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Subject: an open letter from Alan Hale
 Date: 21 Mar 1997 19:13:35 GMT
 From:ahale@nmsu.edu (Alan Hale)
Organization: NMSU Astronomy

An open letter to the scientists of my generation:

I am Alan Hale, the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp which, as I'm
sure you're aware, is getting a tremendous amount of media attention
at this time. Like I'm sure is true for many of you, I was inspired by
the scientific discoveries and events taking place during my childhood
to pursue a career in science only to find, after completing the
rigors of undergraduate and graduate school, that the opportunities
for us to have a career in science are limited at best and are which I
usually describe as "abysmal." Based upon my own experiences, and
those of you with whom I have discussed this issue, my personal
feeling is that, unless there are some pretty drastic changes in the
way that our society approaches science and treats those of us who
have devoted our lives to making some of our own contributions, there
is no way that I can, with a clear conscience, encourage present-day
students to pursue a career in science. It really pains me a great
deal to say something like that, but I feel so strongly about this
that I have publicly made this statement at almost every opportunity I
have been given.

I am trying to use the media attention that is currently being focused
upon me to raise awareness of this state of affairs, and perhaps start
to effect those changes that will allow me to convey a more positive
message to the next generation. So far, I'm sensing a certain
reluctance among the media to discuss this issue, as they seem far
more interested in items which I consider to be irrelevant and
unimportant. But I intend to keep hammering away at this, and I'd like
to believe that eventually some are going to sit up and take notice. I
am also attempting to schedule meetings with some of our government
leaders, to see if I can at least get some acknowledgement from
Washington that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

My reason for writing to you is to ask your help. I know that I'm not
alone in being frustrated about the current prospects for pursuing any
kind of decent career within science, and I'm quite sure that many of
you have "horror stories" about your searches for decent employment
that are quite similar to my own. I'd like to hear them. I'd
especially like to hear from those of you who are on your second or
third or fourth post-doc, or who have left the field as a result of
the employment situation, or who have experienced severe personal
difficulties (e.g., break-up of a marriage, etc.). I realize that some
of these might be painful to discuss, but I'd like to show that we are
not a bunch of impersonal statistics, but that we're human beings
trying to make an honest living and perhaps make a contribution or two
to society while we're at it. Speaking of statistics, though, if you
received any information about the numbers of applicants to some of
the positions you applied to -- which was often a 3-digit number in my
case -- I'd like to hear that, too.

Please e-mail your stories to me at ahale@nmsu.edu, with a subject
line of "horror stories" or something like that. Please let me know if
you would prefer to remain anonymous when I share these stories with
the press and the government. Also, please pass this message on to any
of your friends and colleagues who might be interested in sharing
their stories with me, and keep in mind that I would like to receive
stories from as many scientific disciplines as possible. (Because of
the amount of e-mail traffic I'm receiving these days, along with
everything else that's going on, I probably won't be able to
acknowledge each message individually.)

Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you. Perhaps, with
the opportunity we have before us right now, we have the chance to
make a difference.

Sincerely,

Alan Hale