Události dne

Let us invite you to a Brown Bag Seminar by Roman Dimakov on Wednesday, November 19, at 13:00 in room 402. You can also attend online.

Presenter: Roman Dimakov (Tato e-mailová adresa je chráněna před spamboty. Pro její zobrazení musíte mít povolen Javascript.)

Title: "Knowledge Diffusion and Productivity in the Networks of Scientists: The Case of the Quantum Mechanics Revolution"

Abstract: This paper aims to provide causal evidence on the impact of scientific revolutions on scientists’ productivity by examining a breakthrough in twentieth-century physics – the discovery of quantum mechanics. I construct a novel dataset of historical scientific correspondence covering more than 5,000 active physicists between 1900 and 1952. Using this dataset, I map correspondence networks among physicists and approximate the flow of knowledge through the intensity of their letter exchanges. I exploit pre-discovery correspondence links to define scientists’ exposure to the ideas of quantum mechanics based on their proximity to the theory’s key founders. I then study individual productivity outcomes, such as the number of published papers and their quality (measured by forward citations from the Web of Science database). To estimate the causal effect of exposure to a scientific revolution, I employ a difference-in-differences framework supported by inverse probability weighting based on individual-level network characteristics. Preliminary results suggest that physicists who had established correspondence with the founders of quantum mechanics prior to the discovery produced more papers of higher quality – measured by forward citations within five and twenty years after publication – relative to comparable scientists without such connections. This study contributes to the growing literature on the diffusion of ideas, the role of social networks in science, and the determinants of researchers’ productivity.

You can join the seminar in person at the following address:
CERGE-EI, Politických vězňů 7, Praha 1, room 402

Meeting link: https://cerge-ei.webex.com/cerge-ei/j.php?MTID=mb9941f2d47ad5641538dd58902321b02
Meeting number: 2742 271 8720
Meeting password: 337562