“A person who has not made his great contribution to science before thirty never will,” said Albert Einstein. However, it seems that the reality is quite different. An analysis of theNobel laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Medicineof the last 100 years, carried out by the University of Ohio, reveals thatmost researchers make their great contribution to science past 40.
The study thus disproves the myth of creativity and scientific brilliance associated with youth. “The age at which scientists make their most important achievements varies over time and according to the field of study,” says study author Bruce Weinberg to the SINC agency. “And the most relevant scientific contributions are made, increasingly, in advanced ages.”
Previous research stated that there were differences in the most creative age in science from one field to another, specifically that mathematicians and physicists did their best work at young ages, while medical scientists and historians did it later. However, Weigenberg and his team have been the first to observe that while achieving great success before the age of 30 was common in all disciplines before 1905, it has become less common. Before this date, two-thirds of the Nobel laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine were under 40 years old, and 20% were under 30.Since 1905 the age of the winners has been increasing gradually in all areas. Today, the average age of laureates in physics by the Swedish Academy is 48 years. “Very few really relevant breakthroughs are made before the age of 30,” says Weinberg. “One of the main reasons is that recent work is more experimental, and empirical research tends to be done at older ages than theoretical,” he adds.
The increase in the age of greatest scientific success is also due, according to the authors, to theneed for an increasingly long training career, which delays the start of the production career of scientists. The authors argue that the amount of old knowledge necessary to work in a certain field is linked to the age at which the greatest advances are made. “Physicists in the early 20th century cited recent work in their articles, since quantum theory was new,” Weinberg says. But now physicists are more likely to cite old studies in their work.the depth of knowledge of older scientistsgives them an importantadvantage.
