> Even academia is willing to look past a lack of a degree for the right person -- my ex-wife's PhD advisor's advisor didn't have a PhD himself (but did foundational work in the field).

These seems like more than a generation ago. Things were very different back then. I think now attaining a PhD (or enrolling in one) is the first step towards even starting out in foundational research. Academia today seems to be more about restricting access to the Ivory tower, rather than democratizing it.