You would also need to appeal to people who aren’t scientists or won’t do any groundbreaking work. What kept/keeps monastic orders together was praising God, not sustaining the holy work of one individual who was best at praising God for the highest possible Praise.
Mendel probably wasn’t supported by his fellow monks because he did research. He was supported by his follow monks because he was their brother and also prayed and worked with them. He just chose to spend some of his time working with beans and writing down the results.
Drawing in a supreme scientific mind might not be very hard. Drawing in all the other people to support that one person is a whole lot harder. You’d need a self-sustaining system, that produces its own food and other necessities. Monastic orders solved this problem by adding “labora” (working) to their mission of “ora” (praying). Every monk helped out to sustain his brothers by brewing beer, working in the garden… If your goal is to provide an environment where a supreme scientist can work undisturbed by earthly concerns, the other “science-monks” would need to take over his garden-duties. And I’m not sure if there is enough incentive for them to join.
You would also need to appeal to people who aren’t scientists or won’t do any groundbreaking work. What kept/keeps monastic orders together was praising God, not sustaining the holy work of one individual who was best at praising God for the highest possible Praise.
Mendel probably wasn’t supported by his fellow monks because he did research. He was supported by his follow monks because he was their brother and also prayed and worked with them. He just chose to spend some of his time working with beans and writing down the results.
Drawing in a supreme scientific mind might not be very hard. Drawing in all the other people to support that one person is a whole lot harder. You’d need a self-sustaining system, that produces its own food and other necessities. Monastic orders solved this problem by adding “labora” (working) to their mission of “ora” (praying). Every monk helped out to sustain his brothers by brewing beer, working in the garden… If your goal is to provide an environment where a supreme scientist can work undisturbed by earthly concerns, the other “science-monks” would need to take over his garden-duties. And I’m not sure if there is enough incentive for them to join.