Leading article: For ever clever

The departure of the Nobel prize-winning chemist Sir Harry Kroto, at the age of 64, for Florida State University should give universities in the United Kingdom pause for thought.

The departure of the Nobel prize-winning chemist Sir Harry Kroto, at the age of 64, for Florida State University should give universities in the United Kingdom pause for thought. He is leaving Sussex University because he is afraid that his research funding will dry up when he reaches retirement age this year. So, yet another stellar scientist is joining the brain drain. In the United States there is no official retirement age, which means that academics can go on for ever. So long as they are performing, they cannot be got rid off. Shouldn't we adopt a similar policy to ensure that we don't force out people with brilliant minds and decades of experience?