Are the 1979 Prizewinners of Nobel Class?

Part of the process of scientific discovery is linguistic. It is not only necessary for scientists to observe and discover phenomena, but also to name them. Thus, the coining of new terms (neologisms) is very important to the growth of science. During a recent discussion with Columbia University Professors Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman, a new and, I believe, useful term was born. For years historians and sociologists have been talking about scientists who are outstanding in one way or another. Usually they are recognized through prestigious awards or election to national academies. Nobel prizewinners are the most visible, and generally undisputed, members of this elite. For every scientist and scholar who wins the Nobel prize, though, there are at least a dozen others who are of Nobel class. I do not have a list of aU the people who have been candidates for this award but, of course, they outnumber those who have been named. Zuckerman, in her book Scientific Elite, 1 likens this group to the “immortals,” who, though equal in stature, are not included in the French Academy’s limited membership of 40. Adapting an earlier usage,z she refers to these individuals “.. who are peers of prizewinners in every sense except that of having the awardl (p. 42) as occupants of the “forty-first chair. ” Such people can be identified as of Nobel class. At the Institute for ScientYlc Information (ISI” ), we use citation analysis techniques to identify individual authors who have had high impact, and in the process, we may identify some who are of Nobel class. A scientist whose work is often referred to by others in hk field certainly has had some effect on the work of his peers. However, I have repeatedly cautioned that not all deserving scientists may be recognized by being cited by their peers. Their work may be obliterated.s Cases of delayed recognition can occur.h And not all scientists with high impact may have done work worthy of recognition by awards committees.5 Their work may have high impact in the negative sense. For example, it may be highly controversial. Similarly, citation analysis cannot predict Nobel prizewinners. Certainly, we cannot duplicate the Nobel Committee’s judgment. I suppose I have only myself to blame when relatively uninformed people ask to use Science Citation Indexm (SCP) data to predict the next group of Nobel prizewinners. This is probably because the appearance of Nobel prizewinner on so many of our lists of highly cited authors and articles attests to the relationship between citedness and other forms of scientific recognition. The term, of Nobel class, makes my Me a little easier. When I am asked to produce the names of likely winners, I can simply say, “Here’s a list of people who may be of Nobei class. They have never won the prize but they have outstanding records, having published sign~lcant numbers of papers of high im-