Joseph F. Bunnett Brown University Providence, Rhode Island
German and American Professors of Chemistry:
It has been said that the incidence of major discoveries is generally higher in European than in American science. The American scientific genius, according to this view, is for development of discoveries of European origin, either by application through engineering or by penetrating study of the true nature of the phenomenon involved. Whether this generalization is still true, if it ever was, is not our present object of inquiry. If it isvalid, its explanation may be found in part in differences between the situations of European and American professors. A year's immersion in the currents of German chemistry has made the author aware of these differences as they concern German professors, and visits to other European universities have indicated that the German situation is more or less representative of that in all western Europe. It should not be imagined that practices are uniform in all European countries, or even among universities of the Bundesrepublik. Many exceptions can be cited to the generalizations offered in this article. The Background of the German Professor
Fonnal Schooling. German children start Volkschule when six years old. At age ten or eleven, the brighter ones transfer to a secondary school with strong academic emphasis. For students with an interest in science, this is usually the Oberrealschule or Realgymnasium. The student who does the full nine years of Oberrealschule (many stop after six years) has attained an education roughly equivalent to that of the rising sophomore or junior in an American university. The student of chemistry in a German university devotes his whole attention to chemistry and allied disciplines. His rate of progress depends on his own ability and diligence. Typically, a competent and industrious student will take and pass his Vordiplom examination after four or five semesters in the university. The ?'ordiphn corresponds roughly to the U. S. bachelor's degree, hut has only internal significance in the German university system. It is not a degree or its equivalent. After another four or five semesters' work, the student of professorial timber will pass his Diplom examiThe author spent the academic year 1960-61 as a guest in The Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Munich. He wishes to thank the U. S. Depmtment of State (Fulhright program) and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorid Foundahition for financial support, and Professor Rolf Huisgen for his hospitality. The author visited seven German universities besides the University of Munich, plus eleven in other European countries. In generalizing, he has attempted to present average conditions. In some respects, practices in Munich differ from those which typify German universities in general.
A Contrast
nation; he has then only to do a year or so of good quality research to obtain the D i p l a degree. However, few chemists (only 5-10%) stop a t this point. Most continue with another year or two of research in order to complete a doctoral dissertation. The German chemical industry has little interest in chemists with less than a doctor's degree. Laboratory space in German universities is scarce, and there is stiff competition for space assignments after the Vordiplm examination. The student who fails to be appointed to a Laborplatz cannot continue to study chemistry. One consequence is that only the best students can change universities a t the Vordiplom level. The student with an average record is unlikely to be awarded space by the professors a t another university. Actually, few even of the best do change. Students seldom change universities at the time the Diplom exam is passed because the Diplom research (Diplomarbeit)is yet to he done. Once it is completed, attainment of the doctor's degree is much easier a t the home institution. Indeed, sometimes the Doktorarbeit concerns the same general problem as the Diplomarbeit, and a single dissertation is written. The emphasis on laboratory work is strong. During the academic semesters (roughly November 1to February 28 and May 1to July 31), the student between the Vwdiplom and Diplom examinations is normally busy in the laboratory during the daytime hours, unless attending a lecture. Research students (Diplomanden and Doktoranden) are expected to work full-time in the laboratory during both the semesters and the internening vacations except for holiday periods when the lahoratones are shut down. At Munich, the shut-down periods are two weeks a t Christmas, two weeks a t Easter and four weeks in August. Relatively little financial support is available. There are some state scholarships for students from families of low income; perhaps 15% of all the students have such support. However, this subsidy is limited to thirteen semesters; only the most capable student can obtain his doctor's degree in chemistry within that time. Some students beyond the Diplom exam hold teaching assistantships and there are some research stipends. Normally, however, the student or his family must pay his living expenses and some fees all the way to the doctor's degree. Postdoctoral experience. A promising new Doktor may be invited by his professor to stay on as an Assist ant at a salary of about DM 1000 ($250) per month. (This compares with starting salaries of DM 11001400 per month in industry.) His duties will include laboratory teaching, taking perhaps half his time during the semesters, and laboratory research on the professor's problems. Volume 39, Number 5, May 1962
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After a year or two of such work, he may be invited by his professor to undertake Habilitationsarbeit: independent research on a problem of major significance. His teaching duties will continue as before, but his personal research efforts will be devoted entirely to his own problem. After some three to five years of Habilitationsarbeit, he will make a formal presentation (written and oral) of his work to a committee of professors. If it is judged satisfactory, he becomes a Dozent. Habilitatim is a major step in a man's career. As a Dozent, but not before, he is entitled to give lecture courses, to have research students and to accept a call to a professorship. But his income remains meager. He usually continues as an Assistant (doing laboratory teaching), accepts modest fees paid by students who attend his lectures, and sometimes receives a small supplement from the university. Industrial consulting is common and may provide an important fraction of his total earnings. Dozenten frequently have research groups of ten or twelve students, and their investigations may attract wide attention. The result may be a call to a chair as Professor Extraordinam'us a t another university. By tradition having almost the force of law, promotion from Dozent to Eztraordinarins. or from Extraordinarius to Ordina,rius, cannot be obtained within one university. It should be noted that the professor's entire training and experience prior to his call as Extraordinarius is often in a single Institute under the wing of a single professor. The period of time elapsed may be 15 years or more. However, some of the leading German professors are now sending their proteg6s to another country, often the United States, for a year or two of postdoctoral experience preceding Habilitotionsarbeit. The Extraordinarins is No. 2 man in an Institute. He is obliged to cooperate with the Ordinarius, who has over-all planning and administrative authority, hut he holds his position and salary (which is substantial) independent of the pleasure of the Ordinarius. He often has an independent research budget provided by the state government. His research opportunity is in many respects similar to that of a Dozent under a benevolent Ordinarius, but he enjoys much better salary, prestige and security of position. ~~~~
The Professor Ordinarius
The Faculty of Natural Science in a German university is divided into a number of Institutes, of which two to four are in the field of chemistry: At the University of Munich, for example, there are four Institutes for pure chemistry: organic, inorganic, physical, and biochemistry. At the head of each is a Professor Ordinarius. The Ordinarius has full responsibility for organizing instruction and research in his Institute, and he commands great resources. By tradition, he lectures to the beginning course in his field. Incidentally, this course has the largest enrollment and produces the largest yield of student lecture fees. He also gives one or more advanced courses. He must give a great many oral examinations to students at various levels. (Written exams are almost never used.) If new building or renovation of an existing structure is undertaken, the 226
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responsibility and much of the detalled work of planning and supervision fall on him. He must represent his Institute in various university councils and committees, and sooner or later take his turn (for a year) as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. With respect to research, the Ordinarius occupies a conspicuous position--one of the 20 or 30 top posts in his field in the Bundesrepublik. All eyes are upon him, and the pressure for noteworthy achievement is high. However, his tenure is secure. HIS economic and official status do not depend on the quality or quantity of his research once the chair is attained. The Extraordinarius shares some of these responsibilities. He is entrusted with a major lecture course, handles a substantial fraction of the examination load and also sits on university committees and councils. The Ordinarius delegates the giving of certain advanced or peripheral lecture courses to Dozenten and assigns laboratory teaching duties to Assistenten (some of whom are also Dozenten). Moreover, he has a numerous supporting staff of non-professional personnel. These include shop men and charwomen in abundance, stenographic and other office personnel on about the American scale, and a considerable number of laboratory technicians. All these categories are augmented by teen-age apprentices. The laboratory technicians perform many functions which in America usually must be done by professors, postrdocs or graduate students. These include the preparation of lecture demonstrations, operation of the slide-projecting lantern, preparation of drawings for slides or publications, operation of spectrographic equipment, general care of the laboratories, and the performance of routine laboratory operations. The occupation of laboratory technician is as well recognized in Germany as that of stenographer in the United States. And just as we have special schools to train stenographers, they have Chemieschuk to train technicians. The experienced and capable technician enjoys a respected status and a fair income. Some remain in association with a particular professor or Institute for the greater part of their working lives. They constitute an important fiber of experience and know-how in the fabric of the Institute. The Ordinarius also attracts a large number of research students because of his prestige or his power. Their count may range from 15 to 40. Were all thess students and supporting personnel to report directly to the Ordinarius on all matters, his time would be consumed in an endless succession of little conferences. He therefore builds a structured organize tion. An administrative manager looks after nonscientific matters, and Assistenten are assigned responsibility for certain service functions of a scientific nature. The latter may include a spectrographic cent,er, an analytical laboratory, and an isotope laboratory. Also, A~sistentenbelow the Dozent rank are brought into the professor's research program as intermediate supervisors. It is to these research lieutenants that the student goes with routine questions or problems. Most professors are, however, relatively accessible to their research students. Some visit their students at their lab benches daily. Others schedule research conferences with individual students a t intervals of two or three weeks and welcome visits between times. On the
other hand, few students will seek out the professor in his carpeted office except on the occasion of a major research development or disappointment or to discuss an important personal matter. Some Consequences of the German System
In several respects the system fosters a narrowness of outlook within an Institute. Because the whole experience of a chemist beyond the Diplmn examination is ordinarily gained within one or more Institutes of the same branch of chemistry, each branch tends to be rather internally directed. Intermediate areas such as physical organic chemistry may not receive a fair share of attention. Though physical chemists are welcome in organic seminars and colloquia, and vice versa, there is relatively little intercourse between the two branches. Often each Institute has its own library, and the Organiker who wishes to read the T~amactionsof the Faruday Society must make a special trip to the physical chemistry Institute which may be several hundred meters away, Moreover, the system of separate little libraries discourages breadth in library collections. Each Institute is so intent on having the principal journals that it cannot afford to subscribe to those of lesser stature. The result is that smaller journals of good quality, such as the Australian Journal of Chemistry or Pharmaceutical and Chemical Bulletin (Japan), may he totally absent from the libraries in a major university center. It may seem incongruous that one intermediate area, organometallic and organometalloid chemistry, has not suffered but rather flourished under the Institute system. Whether a mutual interest in this area is the cause or the effect of an affinity between inorganic and organic Institutes is not clear to this observer. Suffice to say that the association between the two is generally much closer than that of either with physical chemistry. At the University of Munich, for example, the two Institutes are in contiguous buildings interconnected a t every floor level, and their library collections are combined (with that of biochemistry) in a single Bibliothek. A further source of narrowness is the circumstance that many of the students, Assistenten, and Dozaten in an Institute have the same university background. Most of them have developed under the tutelage of a single Ordinarius. If he is an inspired and inspiring man of broad vision, the spirit within his Institute may be marvellous. But if he is a man of limited capability and narrow outlook. . . Another consequence is that the German professor has a vested interest in training his undergraduate students to be capable laboratory workers. He knows that his own research co-workers a few years hence will he drawn for the most part from his present undergraduate group. It is acknowledged on all sides that German students are better trained in laboratory work than their American counterparts. One German professor observed, "What incentive do you have for giving your students superior laboratory training? You know that your own research group will not profit from your efforts." This view is offered without comment. On the other hand it is acknowledged that American students, a t least of organic chemistry, are stronger in theory. The major place of physical chemistry in our curricula is no doubt a contributing factor.
The American and the German Professor
Using the word l'professor" in its broader American sense, let us compare the status of a young (say, age 30) German chemist of professorial timber with that of his American equivalent, and then the status of middle-aged professors. The young American is typically an Assistant Professor. In his teaching duties and his research opportunities he is nearly equal to the senior professors in his department. The better-established reputations of the latter may insure the support of post doctoral assistants not available to the younger man, and may attract more research students. On the other hand the enthusiasm and energy of the younger man sometimes has more drawing power. Above all, he is free in his research. Occasionally he has already achieved a substantial independent research reputation by his thirtieth birthday. The corresponding German is engaged in Habilitationsarbeit. Though this research is ostensibly independent of the Ordinarius, the topic chosen is often related to the professor's research interests. In rare cases, it is dictated by the professor. Moreover, the German of age 30 has, in his capacity as an Assistent, some supervisory responsibilities in his professor's research program. His whole future is dependent on remaining in the good graces of the professor. When the professor is a man of greatness, these restrictions bring more short term humiliation than long term harm. But the situation of a young man subservient to a professor of lesser calibre is bleak indeed. The lot of the young American is, overall, a happier one. It is of special value that he is given maximum opportunity to capitalize on the inspired vision of youth. Sometimes a keen young intellect can cut through the tangle of inhibitions or misconceptions that have built up around a subject in the minds of older men. But there are other considerations. The young American is under pressure to publish. Those who must decide whether or not to continue his short-term appointment know him only on brief acquaintance, and have no reliable ruler other than current achievement by which to judge h i . He therefore feels a compulsion to select a research objective which assures success. The "safe" problem is often a dull one. The young German has, however, been known for years to his professor. In favorable cases he is urged to undertake Habilitationsarbeit on a subject of wide significance. If a couple of years are invested in preliminary exploration or in developing techniques, neither publishable as such, the wise professor confident of the worth of the man will not chop off his career abruptly. The German system is perhaps more conducive to the choice of profound objectives. The situation of the middle-aged American professor is much like that which he enjoyed at age 30. His possibly greater reputation may attract more students or postdoctoral associates, but this boost to his research potent.ia1 is offset by demands on his time by other activit~essuch as service on university, government, or ACS committees, speaking outside his home university, refereeing of manuscripts and research proposals, and correspondence with an ever-growing circle of professional acquaintances and former students. Volume
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Unlike the German professor, he has no supporting staff of laboratory technicians or research lieutenants to whom to delegate routine aspects of running a research program or with whom to share the provision of continuity from one student generation to the next. Sometimes he alone can advise his student on how to purify a common solvent or instruct him in a technique developed in his laboratory five years earlier. The problem of maintaining continuity is further complicated by leaves-of-absence (sabbatical, temporary government service, etc.) which, though desirable from other points of view, interrupt planning and work in the home research group. This affects the character of American chemical research. I t obliges research groups to be smaller and therefore diminishes the volume of achievement per group per year. The American professor is not so well equipped as his German counterpart to make an exhaustive study of a given area. Nearly every German colloquium lecturer tells how his research with a certain reaction or principle embraced "eine ganze Reihe" (a whole series) of examples. The corresponding phrase is seldom heard in America. American research tends to he more cooperative in character. One research group builds upon or alongside the structure erected by another. The smaller size of American research groups, the broader educational background of American chemists, and the gregarious American spirit are all contributing factors. Some American professors, including some of great distinction, have allowed their research to slip to a low level of activity after age 45 or so. Seemingly they found the labor of maintaining single-handedly an active and numerous group more than they could manage alongside other responsibilities. One German professor remarked that American chemists tended to flare earlier hut burn out faster than those of his own country. The good hut not outstanding scientist is accommodated more gracefully in the American system. The situation of the German Dozent who has passed age 45 without being called to a chair is an awkward one. Though he is by tradition relatively secure in tenure and is sometimes given the honorary title of ausserplanmassiger Professor, his prestige and opportunities are inferior to those of his American opposite. The German and American systems thus diier in their manner of utilization of the human material available. The German system places tremendous resources in the hands of a few carefully chosen individuals, the Ordinan'us professors. When a man of great ability and character is chosen, the results are magnificent. But when a man of lesser parts is entrusted with such responsibilities and authority, the consequences are unfortunate. Not only is a great opportunity used to poor advantage, but the careers of many younger scientists are placed under a cloud. The American system ismore democratic. It diffuses opportunity and prestige more widely. But in doing so, it lessens (compared to the German standard) the resources available to some of its best men, in the prime of their careers. Research Training in Germany and America
Here in America, we often point with pride to the 228
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diverse backgrounds of our scientists. Commonly they take undergraduate work a t one institution, graduate work a t a second, postdoctoral work a t a third and finally a more or less permanent job a t a fourth. We esteem the broad point of view which such experience confers. The developing scientist is exposed to various intellectual attitudes and experimental techniques, which help bun realize that there are many profitable ways to approach research. He gains perspective. But our young scientists pay a price: the collection of disadvantages consequent on frequent change of location. Some are psychological, some material, and some educational. Changes of location frequently create feelings of insecurity, which may be more or less severe. No doubt weaning was ever so. Nevertheless, a sense of insecurity which impairs the relationship of the man to his work and institution is not to be dismissed lightly. Tbe "poshPh.D. slump" is a moderately general phenomenon. The last months of doctoral work are often a period of intense effort, under the strong motivation of attaining the Ph.D. degree. The brand-new doctor is frequently exhausted, physically and spiritually. In this tired condition, he must redefine his ohjectives and reorganize his life toward them. The externally observable result is sometimes a period (perhaps six months) of apparent drifting, in which the young man doesn't work very hard or with much spirit. If he spends these first few postdoctoral months with a new professor in a new institution, he may not make a good impression. This complicates the psychological problem, and may even jeopardize his career prospects. American research students at all levels suffer from the comparative lack of continuity in American research groups. When too much of the responsibility of maintaining continuity falls on the professor, both the student and the research may suffer. Insofar as the professor is ineffective in transmitting know-how from one student generation to the next, or in keeping track of specialized items of apparatus, the students' education is impeded. The advantages of the German system, with respect to research training, are principally those which derive from constancy of environment. The German student knows his Institute thoroughly: the people, the services and supplies available and how to get them, and (if he is a man of professorial timber) the scientific problems under investigation. He can therefore make faster progress in his research. Because of this and because he or his close associates give unrelenting attention to a given field for a relatively long time, he is able to attain a penetration of it such as few American students or post-docs achieve. In his own experience and observation, he can see a program of research develop through several stages of discovery, construction of hypotheses, disappointment, and break-through into new domains. By prolonged contact with a research program of vitality, he attains an understanding of research in some respects more deep than that conferred by shorter exposure to several problems. In Germany, the psychological advantages of stability of location are in some cases offset-in rare cases overwhelmed-by feelings of antagonism against the
professor and of resentment against a system that gives the student little choice hut to knuckle under. Though these bitter feelings sometimes lack justification, their existence is nonetheless damaging. German and American Research
Because of its organizational structure, the German system makes for a greater volume of accomplishment per research worker. The German professor has a relatively stable body of personnel in his group: Assistenten, students, and technicians. They have mostly been trained by him, and are familiar with the facilities and procedures of the Institute. The professor knows their strengths and weaknesses, and can plan their assignment to various problems so as to achieve an optimum return in research and education. A drawback is that the German system can, in less favorable cases, allow relatively large blocks of research effort to be devoted to unimaginative objectives. The professor trained in a single Institute may have a narrow outlook. Surrounded in his own Institute by men he has himself trained, he may seldom he exposed to a fresh point of view. The result is sometimes a long series of uninspired research papers. However, in other instances this in-grown, selfsufficient type of organization fosters noteworthy discovery. The scientist who is strongly inlluenced by widely accepted points of view may be bound by the prejudices of his contemporaries as well as enlightened by their knowledge. Withim a German Institute, there is an opportunity for the professor and his senior coworkers to become thoroughly familiar with a research field. They may recognize special empirical correlations, and exceptions thereto, and develop unusual hypotheses. These may suggest novel experiments which lead to discovery of hitherto unexpected phenomena. I n this way, a degree of lopsidedness and concentration can favor discovery. Indeed, if one contemplates American research groups in which wholly new reactions or principles have been repeatedly brought to light, one notes some tendency toward the intensive, self-sufficient character of European Institutes. When the objective of research is the integration, interpretation, or application of phenomena already recognized, the broad outlook should be especially helpful. American chemists should therefore be distinguished in areas such as physical organic chemistry, where interpretation is the objective, and synthesis of complex structures, which involves application of diverse principles and reactions. These are indeed areas of strength in American chemistry. Conclusions
Which system is the better, the American or the German? How is one to say? Both are successful, as the record shows. Neither is perfect. I n each,
arrangements which make for brilliant achievement by one man lead t o mediocrity in the work of another. Each academic system reflects, and is an integral part of, a national tradition. Perhaps neither would work well apart from the society in which it developed. There are, however, opportunities for chemists in each nation to learn from the experience of the other. Leadmg German professors are aware of imperfections in their system. Gradual changes are being made, sometimes in the direction of American practice. Indeed, to some extent this article's description of the German system is more characteristic of what it has been than of what it is. For example, the number of Extraordinarius professors in chemical Institutes is being increased; this will decentralize them somewhat. Conversely, research and education in the United States can profit by incorporating aspects of European practice. It is the opinion of this observer that some reduction in the frequency of shift of students and postdocs from one university to another would be advanta geous. A happier balance could thereby be struck between the gains from exposure to different points of view and those from deeper study of a single field. Specifically, there is much to say for awarding one year postdoctoral appointments, a t the Ph.D.-granting university, t o men of special promise. Such awards should be offered selectively, for not more than one year, and in such a way that the young men would feel no compulsion to accept them. I n addition to advantages as mentioned, they would allow the new doctor to live out the post-Ph.D. slump among friends in familiar surroundings, where established work habits would keep him going until newly defined goals provided new motivation. The professor would gain another year's productive work by a good man, increased continuity in his research group, and the close collaboration of his co-worker in manuscript writing. A second desirable adaptation would be a system of "research secretaries" to creative professors. The "research secretary" would assist the professor in his scientific work just as the usual secretary does for office work. He or she might have technician trainimg (corresponding to the stenographer) or hold a degree (correspondmg to a true secretary in the office). The "research secretary" would magnify the efforts of the scientist and help provide continuity in his research group. Some American professors have found ways to arrange for such valuable assistants. It would be desirable if those who ultimately hold the purse strings appreciated more fully the contribution which such personnel can make. These two proposals do not exhaust the possibilities for adapting from the European system. Insofar as such adaptations correct shortcomings of our system without sacrifice of fundamental values, we should welcome them.
Angewandte Chemie: International Edition in English The long-famous German edition now haa its counterpart published in English. Monthly issues contain review articles, communications, conference reporta, selected abstracts, and book reviews. Published by Verlag Chemie and Academic Press, the price io $15.00 per volume, single copies $2.00. Volume 39, Number 5, May 1962
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