Within the elite club of Nobel laureates, more than one in five had a PhD supervisor who also won the prize
SOCRATES TAUGHT Plato, who taught Aristotle. The essential role of mentorship in a pupil’s success is as apparent to scientists today as it was to the philosophers of ancient Greece. The Nobel science prizes, which were awarded this week, illustrate this point. Within the elite club of laureates, more than one in five had a PhD supervisor who also won the prize; one in six trained as a researcher under a Nobelist.
To demonstrate this, Dr Ma and his colleagues identified two groups of similarly talented students with equally accomplished advisers . Some of these mentors would go on to win a Nobel Prize; the rest would not. Exactly which group each would fall into would not be clear until years later. Based on this quasi-experiment, the authors found that the protégés of future Nobel laureates were more than three times as likely to win the prize as their similarly talented counterparts.
One might assume that the success of these privileged protégés can be chalked up to their mentors’ innate brilliance. But the truth is more mundane. The authors emphasise the importance of pursuing the most promising ideas, spotting hidden gems in messy results and collaborating with other scientists.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Nobel prize for physics: exoplanets and cosmologyTwo of this year’s winners discovered a planet around another star. The third turned cosmology into a science
Read more »
Two Nobel literature prizes awarded after year's hiatus due to sex abuse allegationsPolish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian writer Peter Handke won. Tkarczuk is only the 15th woman to win the literature prize in over 100 years.
Read more »
Nobel prizes for literature: Olga Tokarczuk and Peter HandkeThe triumph of two authors from Europe will surprise those who had hoped the Academy might acknowledge a writer from further afield
Read more »
Ethiopia PM Abiy wins Nobel Peace Prize for mending ties with EritreaHailed as a visionary and reformer, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with neighbouring foe Eritrea. Abiy was honoured "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for
Read more »
Video: Malala Yousafzai Makes History as Youngest Nobel Peace Prize RecipientTODAY IN HISTORY: Five years ago, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives for the right of children to receive an education and to live free from abuse.
Read more »
Polish, Austrian authors awarded Nobel Prize for literaturePolish author Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian author Peter Handke are named recipients for 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Read more »