Issac Newton was the greatest scientist. The calculus, mechanics, gravity, thermodynamics, astronomy, optics, the binomial theorem, even theology! You name it, Newton was there, looming over all of us. “No way, Briggs. I checked. Newton only has an h-index of 70, whereas the great Richard Dawkins has an index of 83, and 83 is greater than 70, even without calculus.”
Nice piece Briggs. Funny and informative. I don't normally cite Confucius, who I suspect would have a decent h-index if it was tracked but there is one of his sayings that has been kicking around my mind and seems apposite. 'In a virtuously led country a man ought to be ashamed of poverty. In a viciously led country a man ought to be ashamed of wealth.' My humble adaptation, please cite I am applying for a position as a dissident Right internet troll and citation count will be considered, 'In a truth-oriented scientific community a high citation count ought to be a matter of pride. In The Science a high citation count ought to be a matter of shame.'
In a perfect world, Mr. Briggs, there would already be the Briggs Medal and statues of you standing before the great halls of elite academia for your prowess in routinely generating gems like this. We who are laughing our asses off -- we salute you!
You also forgot those situations where a groups of scientists will create their own sub-niche journal and all just cite each other to gain easy citations.
Thanks for posting this, Briggs. h-index is such a racket. One site that only uses (pinky finger raised) peer-reviewed journals pegs me with an h-index of ten. Another deigns to include conference papers, which doubles my h-index to around 20. Yet another further includes patents which doubles me yet again to an h-index around 40. That's a factor of four variation in what is supposed to be an objective measure of research quality.
Steve Kirsch has mentioned the academic rating as a criteria in whom he would accept to debate against in his covid challenges. I wondered if he was being ironic?
"Scientists with outstanding and highly cited papers on new discoveries or inventions but few in numbers can not have high h-index. For example, Albert Einstein has h-index of 4 or 5 despite being acknowledged globally as an outstanding Physicist. Harry Kroto is a Nobel laureate in chemistry who won the Nobel award with his single publication in 1985 despite his position at 264th in global chemist list base upon h-index."
Einstein in later papers apologized to Newton... only to Newton:
“Newton, forgive me,” You found the only way which, in your age, was just about possible for a man of highest thought and creative power.”.
-that's all you need to know.
Nice piece Briggs. Funny and informative. I don't normally cite Confucius, who I suspect would have a decent h-index if it was tracked but there is one of his sayings that has been kicking around my mind and seems apposite. 'In a virtuously led country a man ought to be ashamed of poverty. In a viciously led country a man ought to be ashamed of wealth.' My humble adaptation, please cite I am applying for a position as a dissident Right internet troll and citation count will be considered, 'In a truth-oriented scientific community a high citation count ought to be a matter of pride. In The Science a high citation count ought to be a matter of shame.'
In a perfect world, Mr. Briggs, there would already be the Briggs Medal and statues of you standing before the great halls of elite academia for your prowess in routinely generating gems like this. We who are laughing our asses off -- we salute you!
The world's greatest ever scientist is Greta Thunberg!
Journal articles are a comorbidity for graduate student expirations.
With all this writing going on, who has time for actual research? Not these 3+ digit h-index people.
Well, Socrates and Diogenes have no h-index altogether – for obvious reasons.
You also forgot those situations where a groups of scientists will create their own sub-niche journal and all just cite each other to gain easy citations.
Please note: it is Newtonian physics that proves beyond any doubt that airliners could not possibly have been used as weapons on 9/11/2001
For optimal clarity people really should be using w-index
"the amazingness of scientists" 🤣
Just proves what we know about Capitalism vs Communism - profit motive wins.
Poor Lysenko . He just wanted to live.
The science, she getting faker and gayer.
Thanks for posting this, Briggs. h-index is such a racket. One site that only uses (pinky finger raised) peer-reviewed journals pegs me with an h-index of ten. Another deigns to include conference papers, which doubles my h-index to around 20. Yet another further includes patents which doubles me yet again to an h-index around 40. That's a factor of four variation in what is supposed to be an objective measure of research quality.
Geez, My Q.I. rating is too low to make an intelligent comment. Newton/Calculus. hope this helps.
Steve Kirsch has mentioned the academic rating as a criteria in whom he would accept to debate against in his covid challenges. I wondered if he was being ironic?
"Scientists with outstanding and highly cited papers on new discoveries or inventions but few in numbers can not have high h-index. For example, Albert Einstein has h-index of 4 or 5 despite being acknowledged globally as an outstanding Physicist. Harry Kroto is a Nobel laureate in chemistry who won the Nobel award with his single publication in 1985 despite his position at 264th in global chemist list base upon h-index."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10025721/