What does Einstein mean in this quote?

Question

"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."

Answer 1

This man was a genius. He loved science simply because he loved to
learn and experiment. I'm sure he was implying that although he loved
his work, it was not very rewarding financially.

Answer 2

Heh... he's right. When I first went to college, I was a biophysics major. Just absolutely fascinated with the topic. But once I got into college and started getting into the research world, you learn about how tedious and frustrating it can be... how you can devote years and years of work towards a hypothesis that simply never breaks through, or someone else ends up nabbing it before you do. There's the competition, the criticism, and the constant struggle for funding. Sometimes you can lose funding on a project when you feel you're on the verge of a breakthrough.

Science is beautiful and fascinating to wonder at from the outside. I decided to pursue my career in public administration, since I'd rather have people come to me for money rather than vice versa... but I still have a strong love for science, and much like a Monet, it's a lot more beautiful at a distance.

Answer 3

Usually Science drives a person to discover something that is likely to "yield" monetary benefits. This is because most of the times, it takes lots of time , effort and money to conduct researches, and individuals may not be able to afford it. Madame Curie's example illustrates this. That is why space researches are funded by governments. Otherwise, many satisfying discoveries , which fascinates an intelligent scientist awaits in lesser "money yielding" areas ! That is what is perhaps meant by Einstein. And, no better competent person to say this, for he was looking after patents for quite some time !

Answer 4

Once upon a time, you could be a starving scientist (kind of like a starving artist). Now, more time & effort is expended plowing through paperwork to keep the grant machine fed than actually doing research. I'm not sure if Einstein had that in his time.

Answer 5

It means that science is good, but most scientist don't make ant money at it until they discover something of great use to the people or the government. Scientist have been the pawns of the government forever and always will be.

Answer 6

most scientist's have to put in long hours working at mid. to low pay.only a Small % get high pay, just like artists and musicians

Answer 7

it means he doesnt know just how much money there is to be made by selling a patent

Answer 8

he just said it to confuse people