Debian is far and away the most stable distro out there, arguably more stable than RHEL. Many people and organizations, including serious research facilities use Debian for this very reason. It's also free as in freedom/free as in beer. Best of both worlds. Scientists already have the chops to run Linux, and Debian allows easy tinkering and customizable approaches than does RHEL/CentOS. It's also easier to upgrade and manage. An in-place dist-upgrade is a breeze in Debian. Not so with RHEL/CentOS. I've done several of both, and Debian wins here hands down.