Abstract
This paper examines the contributions given in theSource Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics 1900–1975 with respect to the question: how old were the authors at the time of their greatest achievements? As average value of the age of the authors at the time of the publication we find A=39.8±10.9 years and a little difference for more empirical and the theoretical papers.
References
K. R. LANG, O. GINGERICH (Eds),A Source Book of Astronomy and Astrophysics 1900–1975, Cambridge/Mass., London, 1979.
D. B. HERRMANN, Astronomy in 20the century,Scientometrics, 9 (1986) 189.
H. ABT, At what age did outstanding American Astronomers publish their most-cited papers?Publications of the Astronomical Society of Pacific, 95 (1983) 113.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Translated from german by KevinKrisciunas (USA). A more detailed paper is published inNTM-Schriftenreihe für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, Leipzig, 24, No. 2 (1987).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Herrmann, D.B. How old were the authors of significant research in twentieth century astronomy at the time of their greatest achievements?. Scientometrics 13, 135–137 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017180
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017180