The Ortega Hypothesis

VARYING THEORIES EXPLAIN THE PHENOMENON THAT RELATIVELY FEW SCIENTISTS MAKE IMPORTANT PROGRESS IN RESEARCH AREAS. SOME FEEL THESE MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE MADE POSSIBLE ONLY THROUGH THE ACCUMULATION OF MINOR DISCOVERIES MADE BY LESSER SCIENTISTS. OTHERS FEEL THAT A GROUP OF ELITE SCIENTISTS CONTROL THE FIELD & PREVENT WIDESPREAD ACCESS TO UPWARD BOUND SCIENTISTS. JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET (THE REVOLT OF THE MASSES, NEW YORK, NY: NORTON, 1932) ASSERTS THAT AVERAGE SCIENTISTS HAVE PAVED THE WAY FOR MEN OF GENIUS. TO EMPIRICALLY TEST THIS CONCEPT, DATA WERE COLLECTED WHICH SHOWED THE CITATION PRACTICES OF ACADEMIC PHYSICISTS. ONE SET CONSISTED OF 84 U PHYSICISTS MOST HEAVILY CITED IN THE 1965 SCIENCE CITATION INDEX & A SECOND SET OF A 33% RANDOM SAMPLE OF THE SCIENTISTS CITED IN THE PAPERS PUBLISHED BY THESE 84 SCIENTISTS. THESE 385 CITED SCIENTISTS WERE ALSO LOCATED IN THE STRATIFICATION SYSTEM. THE DATA GATHERED REFUTE, IN PART, ORTEGA'S VIEW. A RELATIVELY SMALL NUMBER OF PHYSICISTS PRODUCE WORK WHICH THEN FORMS A BASIS FOR FUTURE DISCOVERIES. POSSIBLE CRITICISMS OF THIS POSITION ARE DISCUSSED & IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ARE PRESENTED. 3 TABLES. B. WEISBROD.