
The world’s biggest telescope is ready. The problem: staffing it - alanwong
https://www.inkstonenews.com/science/alien-hunting-fast-telescope-struggling-attract-scientists/article/2171152
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athenot
> Astronomers interested in joining the team should speak fluent English and
> expect to work in the remote location on a long-term basis, according to the
> job postings. The compensation package totals around $14,400 per year.

> “It’s not surprising they have had difficulties hiring people, given the low
> pay compared with similar international institutes,” said a chemical physics
> researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who asked not to be
> identified.

> They added that an additional problem was that they were looking for
> contract workers, not permanent staff.

Seems like the issue is not that they can't staff it but rather aren't
competitive with other institutes who attract the same talent.

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goodcanadian
There is no shortage of unemployed academics (including radio astronomers). At
that salary, located in rural China, they're not competitive with the local
Walmart.

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lozaning
Based on the ads I see when traveling in asia it's not even that competitive
with jobs teaching English to kids in a medium size Chinese city.

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autocorr
There's an interesting parallel to the start of radio astronomy in the United
States. Immediately after World War II, the US largely ignored radio astronomy
in the 40's and early 50's while the British, Dutch, and Australians turned
their experience with radar to astronomy. The US in the early 50's now turned
to make up lost time, and through the recently established National Science
Foundation (NSF, est. 1950) created the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
The parallel is, that there were no people with the appropriate skills to
create an observatory within the US, and they specifically hired one of the
world's leading radio astronomers, the Australian Joseph Pawsey, to be the
NRAO's first director. Tragically, he died of cancer shortly after beginning
the job, but the NRAO went on to pioneer some of the most sensitive radio
telescopes ever built, like the Very Large Array.

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sulam
Why would people need to actually be on site? Isn't a lot of astronomy done
remotely these days?

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sidkshatriya
That’s true for the astronomers who will use the results of the telescopes.
But there have to be engineers, technicians and physicists on-site to ensure
that the telescope is working well and producing the data that can be used by
astronomers downstream.

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swarnie_
What's the motivation behind building a $180 million telescope then offering
poverty wages to the researchers using it?

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chrisbennet
_”The project has also been searching for a chief scientist, with a pay
package of $1.2 million, since late 2017. The post is open to qualified
astronomers from any country but so far no results of the search have been
announced.”_

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rawoke083600
damnnn that pay is low !

