There seems to be a consensus among both the scientific and lay communities in according the highest rank, in terms of prestige, to theoretical scientists. This may seem justified because theoreticians understand the thought processes and activities of the experimentalists, the laypeople, and even the artists, excepting perhaps poets, but the reverse is not the case. Virtually nobody can understand the theoretician. Thus, in order of prestige, after the theoreticians come the experimental scientists and then the technologists, but the lowest on the totem pole are the designers of hardware, of scientific instruments. This towly rank does not seem to bother them, and they are happy in their field. As a matter of fact, many who earn royalties or actually manufacture the hardware are laughing ail the way to the bank.