It sounds like a manifestation of the pareto principle. I would in no way be surprised to see scientific advancement follow a power law distribution among cont

It sounds like a manifestation of the pareto principle. I would in no way be surprised to see scientific advancement follow a power law distribution among contributors where the top 5-10% produce more and better science than the bottom 90% combined. There's all kinds of reasons to expect that too... Everything from funding, likely collaboration partners, talent, etc. That would give it some theoretical basis.