4 ms·
> "The fact that they received a Nobel doesn't mean they were notable before they received the Nobel." It does, pretty much by definition of a Nobel prize.
by pyb 8y ago
> "The fact that they received a Nobel doesn't mean they were notable before they received the Nobel."
It does, pretty much by definition of a Nobel prize.
- soundwave106 8y agoWhat I can see happening sometimes is that the author doesn't have a page, but the page on the science clearly cites the person that ended up winning the Nobel. In this case, the Wikipedia article on chirped pulse amplification has cited Donna Strickland as a co-inventor since 2008 (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chirped_pulse_amplification&oldid=188731900 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chirped_pulse_amp...). For phage displays, George P. Smith is not mentioned but at least cited as far back as 2008 (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phage_display&oldid=223341522 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phage_display&old...). By 2012, George P. Smith is directly mentioned. (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phage_display&oldid=499900124 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phage_display&old...)
- hackinthebochs 8y agoNotable in this context meaning notable to the general public. But wikipedia isn't for original research, and so it needs some external institution to validate notability to the general public. A Nobel prize is one such mechanism.
- twanvl 8y agoWikipedia is not just for the general public, many pages go into a lot of detail, and to people who understand the details of certain subfields of chemistry, these people might be well-known. I'm not a chemist, so I wouldn't know in this case.
- talltimtom 8y agoThe novel prise isn’t given to people already considered notable by the general public. Of the 200 and some physicists who are Nobel laureates most dedicated physics students would struggle to name more than a dozen, let alone arbitrary members of public. They become notable to the public when they receive the award because if it’s public recognition, but they are awarded it based on their research contributions being notable.