Influential Mathematicians: Birth, Education and Affiliation

TL;DR

This paper examines the career trajectories of influential mathematicians to understand how dynamic factors like birthplace and education influence institutional impact, revealing persistent US dominance but also nuanced patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a dynamic analysis of mathematicians' career paths, moving beyond static metrics to better understand institutional influence and geographic patterns.

Findings

US dominance remains strong in mathematics

Some mathematicians' trajectories challenge static impact assumptions

Patterns of birthplace and education influence current affiliations

Abstract

Research output and impact is currently the focus of serious debate worldwide. Quantitative analyses based on a wide spectrum of indices indicate a clear advantage of US institutions as compared to institutions in Europe and the rest of the world. However the measures used to quantify research performance are mostly static: Even though research output is the result of a process that extends in time as well as in space, indices often only take into account the current affiliation when assigning influential research to institutions. In this paper, we focus on the field of mathematics and investigate whether the image that emerges from static indices persists when bringing in more dynamic information, through the study of the "trajectories" of highly cited mathematicians: birthplace, country of first degree, country of PhD and current affiliation. While the dominance of the US remains apparent, some interesting patterns -that perhaps explain this dominance- emerge.