Sir

As a former scientist married to someone who is in his second year of a postdoctoral fellowship, I could not agree more with John Moore's comments on the sad state of funding for young scientists in the United States ( Nature 395, 431; 1998 ). I suspect that the career situation for scientists will get worse before it gets better, resulting in the frustration and demoralization of a generation of bright young people. I hope that the voices of people such as Moore will be heard in Congress before the next generation of scientists is lost.

My decision to leave my postdoc was based on several factors, but one of the primary reasons was concern that we would not be able to support a family on two postdoc salaries. Most of my colleagues believed that I would be able to succeed in academic research, but they all supported my decision then and agree now that it was the right move. Although my husband is committed to research, we sometimes wonder about our financial future.

I now work at a public relations firm that specializes in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. In addition to providing better wages and benefits, this position offers something that is sorely lacking in academia: recognition and reward for a job done well. I have twice been promoted, and get daily positive reinforcement from co-workers and clients.

My office recently hired a friend of mine from graduate school, my sister left science for a job on Wall Street and another friend is thinking of leaving her postdoc for a job in industry where she could earn more and have more time to spend with her child. Judging from the résumés I receive each month from scientists seeking new job opportunities, we are not alone.

Without changes to the current system, I fear that financial realities will force a growing number of talented people to seek alternative careers that will enable them to use their hard-earned degrees for greater monetary reward.

Sir — John Moore rightly suggests that one way to attract bright US students to postdoctoral positions, and eventually to academia, is to raise their salaries. But his concluding sentence appears to suggest the wrong solution.

If the government spends money to “train more young scientists” this should tend to create a further glut of postdocs, and depress their salaries further. To raise salaries, we should be funding fewer young scientists in order to pay them individually more with the same pot of money.