Scientists who win Nobel Prizes become "visible scientists" — getting "almost bulletproof prestige and a reputation that can open just about any door," writes Massimiano Bucchi in The MIT Press Reader.
This phenomenon, says Bucchi, is a an example of the "Matthew effect," named after (Matthew 25:29): "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath."
Renowned sociologist Robert K. Merton (a Nobel Prize winner himself) coined the term while analyzing data about scientific journal acceptance factors:
Merton and his students discovered that essays submitted to a scientific journal were more frequently accepted if a Nobel laureate or a particularly well-known researcher were among their authors. Similarly, essays from a scientist were more often cited by their colleagues after they had been awarded a widely known prize such as the Nobel.
As a paradigmatic case, Merton recalls the story of Lord Rayleigh, Nobel laureate for physics in 1904. His name had been accidentally omitted from a manuscript presented to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The committee turned it down, thinking it was "the work of one of those curious persons called paradoxers." As soon as the real author was discovered, the manuscript was accepted.
Previously:
• Nobel laureate occasionally hangs out on street corners, answering physics questions
• Scientists win 2022 Nobel Prize by proving that reality is not locally real
