By: Richard Smith
Re: Something of intereste . . .

The following letter was distributed by James Randi, and I
thought that some of the folks around here would find it of
interest, so I bumped it over here.  If you want to respond to Alan Hale, the
address given to do so is ahale@NMSU.Edu . . .

* Copied (from: NETMAIL) by Richard Smith using timEd 1.01.

[ Even though not dealing with skepticism, the following
letter from Alan Hale should be of interest to many readers of this mailing
list. Support of legitimate science is something that I'm sure we all wish to
encourage. JR ]

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@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