Letter from Alan Hale

[KUTXA <70630.25@...>]

Javier, por favor, reenviala a escpeticos.
Subject:      Letter from Alan Hale
To: CSICOP-ANNOUNCE en LISTSERV.AOL.COM

  Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 15:23:05 -0700 (MST)
  From raticulin
From: ahale en NMSU.Edu

  Greetings everyone -- yes, another one of those blanket e-mails that
  I send out to folks from time to time. I don't think I know all of
  you personally, but at the very least we may have mutual acquaintances
  who suggested I include you in this mailing. To those of you whom I
  don't know (as well as those whom I do), please forgive my taking the
  liberty of sending you a message like this.

  The message which follows is an open letter to any and all young
  scientists who, like me, are frustrated, angry, bitter, etc. about
  the sorry state of science funding in our society today, and who
  have been struggling just to get a decent career started. Due to my
  current "15 minutes of fame" that I am receiving as a result of
  Comet Hale-Bopp, I believe I have an opportunity to raise some
  awareness of this issue, and possibly to get things turned around
  at least a little bit.

  Anyway, please take the time to read through this, and if you feel
  like responding to it, please do so. Most importantly, please pass
  this around to anyone and everyone you think might be interested in
  responding; I'm trying to reach as large an audience as I can, and
  the more responses I can get from those whose experiences have been
  like mine, the better the chances I have of actually being able to
  accomplish something.

  Thanks,

  Alan

  -!---------------------------------------------------------------------
  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 en 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


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