Jim and Sylvia Tait, discoverers of aldosterone, on what's wrong with how science is funded

I have been reading the excellent recent biographical memoir of James Tait FRS (1925-2014) written by Gavin Vinson and the late John Coghlan (1934-2018) for the Royal Society. Jim Tait with his wife Sylvia (1917-2003) discovered the hormone aldosterone, secreted by the adrenal cortex. For this work, published in 1952, they were both elected to the Royal Society in 1959.

Until I read the obituary I had not realised the Taits had published an account of their life and work as well as a defence of those they thought should have been recognised for their part in key biological discoveries. A copy was soon in my hands. It was published shortly in 2004 after Sylvia died. Sadly, it appeared in need of hard editing while Jim Tait was ill. However, there are a number of cogent observations on how research is funded and organised in the 21st Century:

…in the opinion of the authors, the advantages of Institutional Grants in encouraging highly original research outweighs the disadvantages…
     The reader may have gathered by now that the authors favour the system of research funding, operating as in the 1960s in the UK and USA, with mainly Government funded support (both Project and Institutional). Unfortunately, there is a tendency in central administration of any activity, even including medical research, which even if a successful method is found then it must be changed to indicate progress.

Amen to that - but why is nobody listening above the clamour of vested interest?

Denton DA, MacIntyre I. 2006. Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait. 8 January 1917-28 February 2003. 

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 52, 379-399.

Tait SAS, Tait JF. 2004. A Quartet of Unlikely Discoveries. Twickenham: Athena Press.

Vinson GP, Coghlan JP. 2018. James Francis Tait. 1 December 1925-2 February 2014. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 65, 381-404.