There was little chance of me growing up without acknowledging the scientific greatness of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Galileo. These names and a few others were literally embalzoned along the top of the building where I went to Junior High School. From ages 12-14, my formative years, every time I looked upwards (which I did frequently, because of the school's problem with seagulls) I was given a reminder of these great names and their contributions to science.
One of science's biggest draws is the chance to become famous- to earn lasting recognition, to earn a place for your name along side those great ones. This presents a dilemma, though. The top of that building was full- there was no room for any more names.
There are only two solutions to this problem:
- Make room by kicking somebody else's name off.
- Make room for more names, with a bigger building or a smaller font.
Since there are more and more scientists, all of whom want lasting fame, option (1) becomes more and more difficult. To get on the building, Galileo had to compete with his contemporaries plus maybe a few ancients. I, on the other hand, would have to compete with my much-more numerous contemporaries, in addition to Newton and Galileo, who are still hoarding their spots, despite being long-since dead. Making room for more names-- option (2)-- means that each spot becomes less valuable, because the capacity of each person's mind to remember and honor a set of famous people remains rather limited and more-or-less fixed; i.e., despite there being twice as many scientists today as there were a generation ago, people today do not have twice the ability to remember who is famous.
Fame, one of the main draws for practicing research science, is becoming ever-more elusive, and at the same time becoming less and less valuable.
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