• Question: How much do scientists usually get paid compared to celebrities? Do you think that this is fair?

    Asked by Zealousy to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 19 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by katie, Jazzay.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Scientists earn much less than celebrities! Early-career scientists (post-doctoral researchers) earn from about £28,000 to £45,000. Lecturers, professors receive more like £45,000 – £75,000. Really experienced professors that are responsible for a whole department or have done really famous work will earn a little bit more than that. People who also have medical qualifications and continue to do clinical work at the same time as their research science can earn around £100,000 or even more if they do private work!

      I don’t know how much celebrities earn but I guess it is more than that!

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Not very much: an average university academic is probably getting around £50000 per year. Medical scientists tend to make more, and some senior scientists in industry definitely make more, but I’m sure it doesn’t compare to what a pop star or a supermodel or a Premier league footballer takes home.

      Is it fair? Well, celebrities make what they do because people are prepared to pay that much to watch them/listen to them/buy their books. If people want to stump up X amount of money for a season ticket to Manchester United, then in some sense the footballers they are paying to see have earned that money. If the football team pays its stars more than it brings in by ticket sales, sales of replica kit, advertising etc., then the stars aren’t earning their money – but they won’t be employed by that club for very much longer, either!

      It’s also worth noting that one common aspect of celebrity type jobs is that the ones who earn vast amounts of money are a very small proportion of all the people who start off on that career path. Most musicians do not earn nearly as much money as the chart-toppers: when I went to hear Chris Smither the other day, he was playing in a pub function room that held perhaps 100 people, who’d paid £15 each. Out of that he had to pay travel costs for touring round the country, and the transatlantic air fare (he’s American). I don’t think he’s getting rich. Similarly, for every Rory McIlroy, there must be dozens if not hundreds of club professionals who are good enough to teach members of the golf club and run a shop, but were never good enough to make the professional tour circuit. So going for the celebrity career is taking a huge gamble: most of you won’t make it. Perhaps the ones who do deserve the money for being brave enough to consider it, as well as for being good enough at what they do to get people to pay for it.

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