The Genius Age Revealed
U.S. researchers are ready to claim this after analyzing the personal details of 800 major scientists. The experts were interested in the age at which the world-famous scientists made their first important discoveries.
To learn ” the average age of genius”, economists Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University and Bruce Weinberg of Ohio State University have collected the information on 500 Nobel laureates and 300 famous inventors of the last century, who have also made a great contribution to the development of science, but have not won any prestigious awards.
The results showed that the majority of the most important discoveries (93%) were made by the people older than 26 years, and the most productive time for the flight of thought was the time when the scientists were older than thirty years, but still under forty.
The field of interest of the “bright minds” was no less important in determining the age of genius. The American economists have found that each discipline has certain age limits. For example, most of the discoveries in physics were made by 36-year-old scientists; in chemistry – by 39-year-olds, and in physiology – by 41-year-old scientists.
According to Jones and Weinberg, the scientists born in the 20th century reached the peak of labor performance by the age of 40 years. Compared with the average data, obtained from the analysis of the great minds of the last century, this figure has increased by six years, and the experts predict that it will keep rising in the future.
