China is offering $1.2 million for a foreign chief scientist to run FAST, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, but nobody seems to be applying, being that the job requires a lot more than just sitting around and waiting to hear from aliens: even those who technically qualify could face regional difficulties such as language barriers and cultural differences. The owners of the telescope, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, claims that no astronomer at home has the experience of running a facility of this scale and complexity.



The candidate must have at least 20 years’ previous experience. He or she must have taken a leading role in large-scale radio telescope project and have plenty of managerial experience as well as holding a professorship — or equally senior position — in a world-leading research institute or university. “These requirements are very high. It puts most astronomers out of the race. I may be able to count those qualified with my fingers,” said Wang, who was director of the academy’s laboratory of galaxy cosmology but is not involved in Fast’s management.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – China Can’t Find Anyone to Run the World’s Biggest Telescope