Is Science Really a Young Man's Game
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11923652 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K Brad Wray (0000-0001-8688-3390, State University of New York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 137-149 |
| Publication date | 2003-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Studies of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0306312703033001961 |
| OpenAlex | W2097656366 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 15 |
It has often been remarked that science is a young man's game. Thomas Kuhn, for example, claims that revolutionary changes in science are almost always initiated by either young scientists or those new to a field. I subject Kuhn's hypothesis to testing. I examine 24 revolutionary scientific figures mentioned in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to determine if young scientists are more likely to make revolutionary discoveries than older scientists. My analysis suggests that middle-aged scientists are responsible for initiating more scientific revolutions than young scientists, given the proportion of each group in the total population of scientists. I argue that the popular myth about the correlation between youth and scientific discovery fails to take into account the proportion of young scientists in the population of scientists
Cognitive science · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Library science · Mythology · Normal science · Population · Scientific discovery · Scientific field · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Classics · Computer Science · Demography · Engineering · History · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Science and Climate Studies · scientometrics and bibliometrics research
Following Feynman’s path
Risky Science? Perception and Negotiation of Risk in University Bioscience
The Ethos of Science and Its Correlates
Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science
In What Sense Is Scientific Knowledge Collective Knowledge
Kuhnian Revolutions Revisited
The cognition dimension of theory change in Kuhn’s philosophy of science
The credit incentive to be a maverick
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Age Differences in the Reception of New Scientific Theories
Drifting Continents and Colliding Interests
Born to Rebel
Chemistry Transformed
The Epistemic Significance of Collaborative Research
Youth and scientific innovation
Age and the Acceptance of Cliometrics
The Sociology of Science
Chemistry Transformed
Age and Scientific Performance
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,42 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2020 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |