Why are there some really young professors and other much older lecturers without professor status? I was just wondering how this is possible, there are some 50+ year old people who are 'Dr. X Y', and others who are maybe "only" 40 years old , but they are 'Professor Dr. X Y'.
Academia, like any other organized human profession, has a system of ranks and advancement on which those particularly talented or ambitious tend to rise quickly, while others may rise much more slowly or eventually stop.