Subject: Re: Paying off National Debt
...becoming a professor until I saw just how much hustling for research money you had to do...

Yeah, that put me off, also. Plus my favorite professor was always under siege because he brought in the bare minimum of research dollars. He actually LIKED to teach, and even started some courses that weren't normally offered (specifically, spectroscopy-related). He was very popular with students. If he didn't have tenure, they likely would have given his lab space to someone else.

My research was done with a non-professor who was affiliated with the University (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatories). But even he had to chase funding.

I opted for a job where I showed up, did my work, went home, and they paid me every other week. No grant proposals. For the first few years they referred to me as "the rocket scientist" (even though I didn't do rocketry).