There's a wide plain between Einstein (who was a theoretical scientist anyway and didn't observe, record, and verify data) and a technician whose only role is to observe, record, and verify data. The GP was referring to PhDs in science, whose role involves making models to explain the data that they collect, not just collecting data and applying it to models that somebody else made.
While anybody can observe, record, and verify data (which isn't even remotely true and many people trained in science are terrible at this, let alone determining what data needs to be collected), very few people have the talent, training, and desire to make models that explain the collected data.