The Ten Wealthiest Academics in the World

Online Colleges recently published an article entitled “10 Wealthiest Academics in the World”. I thought that this was worth sharing with you.

 

Here are the Top Ten that they have identified:

 

10.   Syril Taylor

9.     David Silvers

8.     Zev Rosenwaks, MD (at my Alma Mattar)

7.     Reza Satchu, University of Toronto

6.     James Stewart, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University

5.    Stephen Hawking, Professor Emeritus, Cambridge University

4.    Robert S. Langer, Professor, MIT

3.    David Cheriton, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University

2.    Henry Samueli, Professor, UCLA

and in the No 1. spot:

Adi Shamir, Professor of Computer Science, Weizmann Institute

 

Who says you can’t get wealthy as an academic?  Such is a myth that is fading with the rising of the knowledge economy.  Should universities revisit their organizational structures and compensation sytems to attract good academics that are motivated by both the creaton of knowledge and wealth?

Can the Third Role of the University as an economic developer (in addition to teacher and researcher) be realized to its true potential without having a portion of its academic population taking on the role of academic entrepreneur?  To do such may require what I have termed the “Dual Motivation of the Third Role” — that is the motivation to acheive both traditional academic success — either in teaching or research — and monetary success through the creation of new firms centred around either these academc endeavors in teaching or research.  The culture of in the institution of higher education will be required to undergo changes in its shared values — the myth that academics can not acheive wealth or shouldn’t aim for it will need questioned and then shattered. From here, organizational processess, structure and roles, along with compensation systems, can be improved to accomodate those with Dual Motivation, just like the university was adjusted centuries ago when the second role of research was added,  to accomodate those that were motivated by research and teaching.

There are more!

Who else should be on this list?  I’d like to compile a list of the Top 100 Academic Entrepreneurs, so please let me know of any others that are not mentioned above. There are thousands of academic millionaires out there, and others will be inspired to know who they are and how they did it.  Acheiving Dual Motivation of the Third Role will require mentors and motivators.

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