China still having trouble staffing up its mega-telescope
China has built a staggeringly large radio telescope in a remote part of the country, and, although it is the largest and most advanced instrument of its kind in the world, the country continues to have a difficult time staffing up the observatory.
Not only has the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST instrument, still failed to attract a chief scientist, according to the South China Morning Post the facility is also struggling to attract two dozen researchers to work onsite to maintain the instrument and analyze data collected there.
One problem is pay. According to the Post, astronomers interested in joining working there should speak fluent English and expect to work in the remote location on a long-term basis. (The telescope is located in southwest China's mountainous Guizhou Province.) Compensation for the job is meager, at least by Western standards—about 100,000 yuan, or $14,400 annually.
Previously: China Announces Petascale Supercomputer for FAST Radiotelescope
China Builds World's Largest Radiotelescope
China Begins Operating World's Largest Radio Telescope
China Can't Find Anyone Smart Enough to Run its Whizzbang $180M 500 Meter Radio Telescope
Related: Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory Saved From Uncertain Fate
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday November 06 2018, @10:41AM (1 child)
By Chinese standards it's probably a very well paid position. It's quite a bit over the average wage, even more then if it was a manufacturing job and extremely well paid compared to the minimum wage jobs. But sure if they want to have someone from abroad come in and do the job then it probably won't cut it (unless that person is paid for by it's "home" university in the west).
Still it does seem somewhat odd that they can't find anyone. Whatever happened to the giant red army recruitment pool. I'm sure they could find some astronomer or similar there that they can make an offer they can't refuse.
https://tradingeconomics.com/china/wages [tradingeconomics.com]
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday November 06 2018, @12:06PM
No, it isn't. China pay is ~ 35% to 40% of USA pay in many technical and scientific fields. It's not like India or the shittier places in Africa. Average pay stats don't give you an accurate estimate of the pay for trained engineers,technicians, and scientists. They need to pay 2-3x what they are offering.