The salary is not that high. If Costis or Nina earn less than $150,000 USD/year, I will eat my hat. $200k is more likely. Also, their job comes with tenure (and access to the world’s top graduate students), and you’re unlikely to get them to quit it.
(It is true that they might refer some of the open problems to their graduate students, though.)
Academics not willing to leave their jobs might still be interested in working on a problem part-time. One could imagine that the right researcher working part-time might be more effective than the wrong researcher full time.
The salary is not that high. If Costis or Nina earn less than $150,000 USD/year, I will eat my hat. $200k is more likely. Also, their job comes with tenure (and access to the world’s top graduate students), and you’re unlikely to get them to quit it.
(It is true that they might refer some of the open problems to their graduate students, though.)
Academics not willing to leave their jobs might still be interested in working on a problem part-time. One could imagine that the right researcher working part-time might be more effective than the wrong researcher full time.