Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/26

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Subject: [Leica] PhD qualifications
From: "Doug McLernon" <Douglas.McLernon@tcd.ie>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 11:37:59 +0100

When I was completing my doctorate many years ago, one of my supervisors
brought me down to earth with the comment, " Because of the requirement of
originality, most PhDs are experts in a subject so important that nobody
else has bothered to research it".

I agree with  Jonathan Lee about the social use of the "Doctor"  title
(unless in Germany where a person with two doctorates is addressed as "Herr
doctor doctor" and his wife as "Frau doctor, doctor").  Most of the people I
have observed who use it socially were either  awarded an H.C. degree for a
large contribution to the awarding institution or answered an advertisement
in the back of The Economist or Time Magazine for "degrees based upon
lifetime experience", and money, of course. (Education - sometimes physical
education - and Sociology excepted)
Regards,
Doug McLernon
Dublin, Ireland