I’d like to draw your attention to a conversation going on elsewhere on Nature Network about mandatory retirement. Peter Lawrence of the University of Cambridge wrote a commentary for last week’s Nature appealing for an end to the ‘archaic practice’ of forcefully retiring scientists of advancing years—a situation common in European countries.

The discussion continues over in the News and Opinion forum. One commenter, wishing to remain anonymous, believes age discrimination is not limited to Europe.

My wife is a bit older than me, and only got a job because she very carefully eliminated any reference to her age on her CV. Before she did, she got no job offers; afterwards she got four in quick succession. The change was immediate. There IS age discrimination in academia in the USA, and I am VERY angry about it.

Others feel that mandatory retirement is justified:

Being a PhD student at a respected university, surrounded by an aging faculty that is no longer on the cutting edge of their fields of study leaves me with a longing for mandatory retirement. Faculty positions are rare, and those that hold tenured positions later into their lives are holding back a younger, more current, and more excited generation of researchers.

Clearly a controversial area. Please head on over to the forum and add your own opinions, whatever your age.