How Famous is a Scientist? -- Famous to Those Who Know Us

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between scientific fame, measured by Google hits, and merit, indicated by the number of papers, revealing a linear relation and exponential fame distribution among scientists.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of scientific fame using web search data and compares it with historical data on WW II ace pilots, highlighting different fame distribution patterns.

Findings

Fame and merit are linearly related in scientists.

Fame distribution among scientists decays exponentially.

Fame distribution for WW II ace pilots follows a power-law decay.

Abstract

Following a recent idea, to measure fame by the number of \Google hits found in a search on the WWW, we study the relation between fame (\Google hits) and merit (number of papers posted on an electronic archive) for a random group of scientists in condensed matter and statistical physics. Our findings show that fame and merit in science are linearly related, and that the probability distribution for a certain level of fame falls off exponentially. This is in sharp contrast with the original findings about WW II ace pilots, for which fame is exponentially related to merit (number of downed planes), and the probability of fame decays in power-law fashion. Other groups in our study show similar patterns of fame as for ace pilots.