I attended Caltech in the era that Feynman was a professor there. I heard he was paid XXX a year. I opined that was ridiculous, who could possibly be worth that much?
An upperclassman laughed and told me that Feynman was worth that much to the university even if he did nothing. Attaching his name to the university brought in donations, grants, and top talent.
Of course, Feynman being Feynman, worked like hell anyway.
Wikipedia claims that Feynman's first job after Los Alamos was at Cornell for $4,000 per year (~$54k/year inflation-adjusted). This claim is repeated in many sources, including the book "Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman".
That book also makes the claim that in the 1960s (perhaps as early as 1960 itself), Feynman's salary crossed $20,000/year and that he was the highest-paid member of the faculty. Inflation-adjusted, that is at most $165k/year.
I don't know, but "Surely you're joking, MR. Feynmann" contains an anecdote about a bidding war between Caltech and another university, at the end of which he turned down an even bigger offer in order to be at Caltech.
An upperclassman laughed and told me that Feynman was worth that much to the university even if he did nothing. Attaching his name to the university brought in donations, grants, and top talent.
Of course, Feynman being Feynman, worked like hell anyway.