Wether the rocket scientist likes it or not, money is a necessary evil. It sounds very noble to go on and on about how you're not interested in the 'money', but when you're sabotaging aspects of your life that require money it's not nobility that takes the front seat, it's stupidity.
It's not about getting rich and famous. It's about being able to provide for your family. It's about being able to maintain a lifestyle you're comfortable with through the good times and through the shit ones. It's about being able to pay for medical treatment for you and your loved ones when it's needed. It's not about innovating for the sake of making money, it's about making money as a byproduct of innovating.
As you, I have great respect for people that perform great work for the sake of great work (regardless of the money), but I'm deeply insulted by someone not taking a slice of the pie they baked themselves when their stomach is churning for food.
In this example, the rocket scientist may be a brilliant man, but he's also naive and stupid. He wants a family, but is put off because of the extra financial pressure it might place on his shoulders. This is like going backwards when the world is giving you a gift to move forward. This is also being irresponsible. You don't want the million dollars and the fancy cars? Fine, keep 500k for your family, get married, have children and put them in decent schools, pay for your mothers comfort on her last years, and give the other 500k to a charity instead of letting it pad someone else's pockets which are already filled with great amounts of cash.
If you have enough money to live the life you want, by all means do great work for the sake of great work and give it away for no retribution. But if you do need the money to fulfill your goals, it's an insult to all the poor people in the world to not make some money out of achievements that allow you to do so.