Top physicists of all time with respect to h-index

In summary, There is a discussion about finding a compiled list of the top physicists with respect to h-index, but the conversation shifts to the shortcomings of h-index as a metric of success. The conversation also mentions a possible correlation between the frequency of a person's name in archives and their influence.
  • #1
maverick_starstrider
1,119
7
Hi, I've been searching google for like an hour now and I can't seem to find a compiled lists of the top physicists of all time with respect to h-index (I'd like like top 100 but I'd settle for top 10). You'd think it'd be easy to find but I can't seem to find such a list. Does anyone know where one might be? Help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I'd prefer this didn't turn into a discussion of the short comings of the h-index as a metric of success. I'm just looking for a list.
 
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  • #4


maverick_starstrider said:
How is it possible that Dirac had an h-index of only 19?
It's one of the short comings of the h-index as a metric of success. :smile:
 
  • #5


I'm more inclined to say the stats are wrong. Feynman didn't publish a lot so I get his low value but I was always under the impression that Dirac published quite a bit (and surely most of his papers were cited many, many times). I mean Dirac probably has more than 19 things NAMED AFTER HIM so surely each of those would have been in a highly cited paper.
 
  • #6


Haha! Feynman = pwned by Brian Greene. Just goes to show you what really matters: publishing a lot and getting cited even more. :-p
 
  • #7


Being cited in a paper doesn't mean you had anything useful to contribute..a lot of really terrible papers get high citations just because they did were the first to approach a particular problem, so all the new and better approaches end up listing this terrible approach in their previous work section.

I think a better measure of a person's influence is measured by the prevalence of their name in the archives of the world. Thus I present the G-index,

Dirac = 2,960,000
Feynman = 2,520,000
James Maxwell = 2,260,000
Brian Greene = 338,000
 
  • #8


junglebeast said:
Being cited in a paper doesn't mean you had anything useful to contribute.
I found this out the hard way. I have an h-index of 93 because of all the papers citing my papers and saying "don't do it this way".
 
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FAQ: Top physicists of all time with respect to h-index

Who is considered to have the highest h-index in physics?

The current highest h-index in physics is held by Eugene Garfield, with an h-index of 200.

How is the h-index calculated?

The h-index is calculated by determining the number of papers a scientist has published that have been cited at least that many times. For example, an h-index of 20 means that the scientist has published 20 papers that have each been cited at least 20 times.

Can the h-index be used to compare physicists from different fields?

Yes, the h-index can be used to compare physicists from different fields as it takes into account the quantity and impact of a scientist's work.

Has the h-index been criticized as a measure of a scientist's impact?

Yes, the h-index has been criticized for not taking into account the context of citations and for being biased towards older scientists who have had more time to accumulate citations.

Are there other metrics besides the h-index that are used to measure a scientist's impact?

Yes, there are other metrics such as the g-index, i-index, and m-index that are used to measure a scientist's impact. However, the h-index is the most widely used and recognized metric.

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