"I have noticed that you failed to come into the lab on several weekends"

A friend of mine sent me this link the other day:
http://boingboing.net/2010/06/25/i-have-noticed-that.html

Basically, it's a letter sent by a CalTech professor to one of his postdocs, chastising the postdoc for not working on weekends and evenings, and telling him how easy it would be to replace him in the lab.

I know I've come across equally endearing academic personalities, and they always make me grateful for my current supervisor's agreeable, flexible, and kindhearted nature.

My friend did a web search on the professor that sent this letter and found the following:

"He is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, Nobel Laureate Signature Award, Fresenius Award, a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science, Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, Merck Young Investigator Award, Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award, Pfizer Research Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award, and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. He is also the recipient of the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology Annual Award in Teaching and a Richard M. Badger Award in Teaching."

At first glance, I thought the letter was material for one of Jorge Cham's PhD comics.  After all, academia is an industry with incredibly flexible hours:  you're allowed to choose which 80 hours of the week you want to work.  While there are a lot of lovely and inspiring people in academia, and I suppose I should find a letter to a postdoc from one of them to make this post two-sided, there are also a handful of folks in academia (or in any competitive industry) who are just arses.  Unfortunate, but unavoidable. 

But giving it a bit more thought, I can come up with several reasons that a professor might have sent a letter like this.

Maybe he has grown accustomed to a 24/7 work ethic, and simply expects his colleagues to join this culture.  If someone subscribes to a certain working style, it's understandable that he or she would want to work alongside people who hold the same attitude.  The harsh wording of the letter could simply be a poor communication effort, and is not intended as harsh, but simply realistic in his view and not intended to be taken personally.

Maybe he wants to hold onto some intimidation factor over his inferiors.  Is this his fault, or is it inevitable in the academic culture?  If you're not completely dedicated to your research, you're not going to make it to the top and get the faculty position or keep the reputation.  To maintain that kind of dedication, I'd imagine a professor would want full commitment from his group members.  Again, communication may not be at its best when delivering the message.

This guy has won all sorts of awards for both research and teaching.  He obviously has a reputation to maintain.  But unfortunately, there's also a side of academia that is prone to bullying and trying to prove one's own toughness, which is the side that comes across in this letter.

And with that, I'm backing up my files and heading to the climbing gym for the evening.  See you on Monday.