[supercat]

Should a man who uses the term 'light-year' to describe a unit of time be in charge of research?

I'd say it's a more extreme version of being "miles" ahead of the competition, and thus a distance measure is appropriate.

[Uncle Vlad]

Should a man who uses the term 'light-year' to describe a unit of time be in charge of research?

Of course he should. He's the captain of the Millennium Falcon--that's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.