ABSTRACT
Scientifi c roles are in fl ux with the elimination of clear dividing lines between science and business. Scientists in a late 1970s California solar electricity start-up did not fi t previous sociological defi nitions of academic or industrial scientist. These physicists were “entrepreneurial scientists”1
who participated in decision-making as backers of the fi rm, with funds earned from stock options in the semiconductor industry. They were not interested in publication,2 as their goal was patents, nor did they suffer the “role strain” of corporate scientists making the transition from academia, torn between their allegiances.3 Moreover, academic scientists, doing start-ups from their research, are on both sides of the university-industry relationship.
