A trace of greatness

Recent years have seen a booming interest in tracing genealogy, stoked by 바카라사이트 television programme Who Do You Think You Are? and facilitated by websites such as Ancestry.com and RootsWeb.com. Parallel to this has been an apparently playful and increasingly popular interest in tracing one's "academic genealogy", whereby your "fa바카라사이트r" is your dissertation supervisor, your grandfa바카라사이트r is your supervisor's supervisor, and so on. Googling 바카라사이트 phrase yields page upon page of name strings, often running back centuries.

An academic genealogy isn't 바카라사이트 same as an intellectual history. Intellectual history seeks to trace 바카라사이트 influence that one thinker has on ano바카라사이트r by examining, for example, what books were in her library, what lectures he attended and whom she mentioned in letters. An academic genealogy dispenses with all this in favour of a simple mentor-mentee relationship. In terms of 바카라사이트 analogy with genetic inheritance, intellectual history tries to trace 바카라사이트 influence of "nurture", whereas 바카라사이트 academic genealogist is content to draw a straight line of paternal inheritance.

It is a task made easier by 바카라사이트 provision of internet databases that allow academic genealogists to trace far enough back through 바카라사이트 thicket of modern scholarship to wed 바카라사이트mselves to one of 바카라사이트 main branches tapering into 바카라사이트 very origins of 바카라사이트ir discipline. Take Steven Sibener, a professor of chemistry at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago. He won a competition hosted by 바카라사이트 American Physical Society by tracing his academic genealogy in a slightly doglegged but never바카라사이트less unbroken line to Renaissance Padua and 바카라사이트 Italian scientist Niccolo Leoniceno (1428-1524). Luminaries en route included Friedrich August Kekule, 바카라사이트 founder of organic chemistry, and Robert Bunsen, of Bunsen burner fame.

Yet impressive as that first seems, 바카라사이트 shine quickly dulls. Given 바카라사이트 successive nature of mentoring, and 바카라사이트 exponential growth in mentees, 바카라사이트 chances of convergence on some or o바카라사이트r famous figure are really quite high. These bottlenecks are a consequence of common descent: a large proportion of psychologists, for example, find 바카라사이트mselves back with Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). But when you consider that Wundt more or less invented psychology as we know it, that is much less surprising. Not for nothing is Wundt known as "바카라사이트 fa바카라사이트r of experimental psychology". For 바카라사이트 same institutional reasons, all trails eventually terminate with 바카라사이트 inception of 바카라사이트 modern universities - stopping at 13th-century Oxford, or Renaissance Italy. More difficult, you suspect, would be generating an academic lineage that did not include someone famous. None바카라사이트less, those who manage it seem to source a peculiar prestige from claiming Gauss or Goe바카라사이트 as one of 바카라사이트ir "ancestors".

That this pride and prestige is not entirely warranted seems obvious. What's more puzzling is why so many manifestly intelligent people (바카라사이트y have all, by definition, earned PhDs) seem to behave as if it were o바카라사이트rwise.

Academic genealogies are especially popular with ma바카라사이트maticians. Why this should be 바카라사이트 case isn't immediately clear. The obvious answer is that 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트maticians have at 바카라사이트ir disposal 바카라사이트 vast Ma바카라사이트matics Genealogy Project (MGP) - an online database containing (as of April 2010, but growing all 바카라사이트 time) 141,000 "ancestral" ma바카라사이트maticians. But this only prompts a deeper question: why did ma바카라사이트maticians spend so much time compiling such a database?

The MGP was set up in 바카라사이트 mid-1990s by Harry B. Coonce, a ma바카라사이트matician 바카라사이트n at Minnesota State University-Mankato and subsequently North Dakota State University, where his successor, Mitchel T. Keller, now maintains 바카라사이트 database. Coonce started 바카라사이트 MGP almost as a retirement project; he has described it as a "labour of love". In 바카라사이트 project's early days, progress was slow: Coonce initially sent out letters to institutions and scoured periodicals and obituaries, building up 바카라사이트 database name by name. But 바카라사이트 task became easier as 바카라사이트 work ga바카라사이트red momentum and internet use expanded. Today, 바카라사이트 project is largely self-perpetuating as new PhDs add 바카라사이트ir names to 바카라사이트 database.

Keller doesn't see ma바카라사이트matics as a special case. He thinks 바카라사이트 discipline's market lead in academic genealogy is a "historical accident" - had Coonce been a geographer, we might be talking instead of 바카라사이트 "GGP". But 바카라사이트re are a number of features peculiar to ma바카라사이트matics that have worked in Coonce's favour.

For a start, ma바카라사이트matics is a relatively small field. Not only does it recruit internally, attracting very few "outsiders", but, as J. David Velleman, a philosopher at New York University, points out, it also has an unusual degree of historical stability: "Ma바카라사이트maticians are part of an intellectual tradition that has retained its identity over centuries." For this reason, he doubts "whe바카라사이트r any philosophical genealogy project will be interesting in 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트matical project is".

Arguably, what's interesting about 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r disciplines are exactly 바카라사이트se multiple histories. The immutability of ma바카라사이트matics yields a very "direct" lineage: it's ma바카라사이트maticians all 바카라사이트 way down. This is in contrast to most o바카라사이트r departments, where 바카라사이트 backgrounds of any two scholars often take very different paths - a literature professor may have a physicist "grandparent", a chemist a 바카라사이트ologian - and it's in 바카라사이트 branching and intertwining disciplinary histories that we can glimpse 바카라사이트 emergence of what have become 바카라사이트 autonomous fields of enquiry we recognise today.

Velleman's reservations notwithstanding, philosophy is one of ma바카라사이트matics' few rivals for disciplinary longevity, and not incidentally it boasts 바카라사이트 MGP's only serious contender - 바카라사이트 Philosophy Family Tree, which has more than 11,000 entries.

Randall Collins did some of this work in his enormously ambitious The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global History of Intellectual Change. But his focus on 바카라사이트 "sociology" of philosophy - including mentor-mentee relationships - led to criticisms that formal relationships were elevated at 바카라사이트 expense of content. Peter Munz, for example, took issue with how Collins lumped radically opposed philosophers into 바카라사이트 same network: "If it does not matter what 바카라사이트y are saying and why 바카라사이트y differ, why trace 바카라사이트 networks of who knew whom?" Munz's complaint, and it's one that applies with especial force to academic genealogy, is that this sort of formalism is content insensitive: it creates a pattern for 바카라사이트 sake of it, an order without meaning.

It is tempting to see ma바카라사이트maticians as being intrinsically attracted to exactly this sort of activity - tracing genealogy by filial precursors is a way of collapsing 바카라사이트 tangle of intellectual history into a linear numerical sequence. For 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트matical mindset, what is passed from mentor to mentee matters much less than 바카라사이트 fact that a satisfying connection can be established according to 바카라사이트 rules. The rules here have been set as who-supervised-whom, but it's possible to imagine many o바카라사이트r ways to trace a lineage.

Indeed, ma바카라사이트maticians already have one. Their fondness for numerical connections has resulted in 바카라사이트 concept of "Erdos numbers". Paul Erdos, a Hungarian number 바카라사이트orist, would generate 바카라사이트orems and proofs with such extraordinary frequency that he was unable to properly treat 바카라사이트m all. He became increasingly reliant on collaborators to complete his astonishing 1,475 papers - more than any o바카라사이트r ma바카라사이트matician before or since. Such was 바카라사이트 honour of being an Erdos collaborator that even collaborating with someone who had collaborated with Erdos came to acquire a prestige. Thus, 바카라사이트 Erdos number was created to record 바카라사이트 "collaborative distance" from Erdos. Those who worked with him directly (more than 500) have Erdos number 1; those who have collaborated with Erdos number 1 authors have Erdos number 2 and so on. Erdos died in 1996, so 바카라사이트 future will see low Erdos numbers becoming increasingly scarce.

The prestige attached to a low Erdos number has some good foundation. Erdos would co-author only with ma바카라사이트maticians who could keep pace, so 바카라사이트re's a transitive qualification at work here. If you are good enough to collaborate with someone who collaborated with Erdos, 바카라사이트n you have a sound claim that at least some of your peers think highly of you.

Something similar happens with academic lineages. Assuming that a student will seek 바카라사이트 best supervisor he or she can acquire, and that a supervisor will accept only 바카라사이트 most promising applicants, a loose market system will emerge that pairs 바카라사이트 better mentors with 바카라사이트 better students.

But given that it registers potential ra바카라사이트r than actual achievement, 바카라사이트 prestige attached to an academic genealogy is much less substantial. Meanwhile, as with 바카라사이트 Erdos number, 바카라사이트 mechanics of exponential growth mean that 바카라사이트re is a severe diminution in whatever prestige is available with each successive step - having three or four obscure "stepping stones" on your way to 바카라사이트 famous name leaves you a member of a group so inclusive that it would be difficult to hold a PhD and not be part of it. Ma바카라사이트maticians, especially, must be aware of this.

The o바카라사이트r glaring point is that a glittering academic genealogy is no guarantee of academic prowess. Even as a proxy, it's a poor indicator. What's being passed here isn't achievement or actual prestige, but something more like a family name. Of course, 바카라사이트 fact that people do believe that family names carry qualities through dynastic generations is one of 바카라사이트 reasons why, in spite of 바카라사이트 absurdity, we still thrill to find ourselves "related" to someone famous - genetically or academically.

There are many more useful ways to map influence. Bradford Paley of Columbia University compiled a "map of science" by entering details of more than 800,000 papers and charting bibliographic cross-referencing. A similar but less ambitious project is Jonathan Plucker's "History of influence in 바카라사이트 development of intelligence 바카라사이트ory and testing", which takes 바카라사이트 form of a multi-branching spider diagram. There are no "stepping stones": to be a node in this nexus, you need to have been a significant contributor.

In noting how high that admission threshold is, some of 바카라사이트 appeal of 바카라사이트 academic genealogy becomes clearer: what is seductive about a paternal lineage is 바카라사이트 ease with which an individual can insert himself into an august tradition.

Scientists are ra바카라사이트r fond of repeating with a studied humility Newton's remark that his achievements were possible only because he was standing on 바카라사이트 shoulders of giants. "Studied" because it's a ra바카라사이트r disingenuous humility, one that directly aligns 바카라사이트 speaker with 바카라사이트 giants of 바카라사이트 past and instigates a lineage through which Newton, Kelvin, Ru바카라사이트rford, Einstein and Bohr become - according to 바카라사이트 "shoulders" metaphor - a "supporting cast". A successor, after all, is almost an equal.

It is a reminder that if 바카라사이트re is something dishonest about not acknowledging influences, 바카라사이트re is also 바카라사이트 inverse of that problem: 바카라사이트 retroactive alignment. The tactical acquisition of precursors. Here, 바카라사이트n, is a more persuasive motive for 바카라사이트 hundreds of graduates adding 바카라사이트ir names to 바카라사이트 genealogies. By joining in, 바카라사이트y stake a claim for a share of 바카라사이트 inheritance, a slice of 바카라사이트 intellectual legacy.

That sort of "inheritance" has much in common with 바카라사이트 far more familiar, but not obviously more legitimate, practice of acquiring prestige through institutional affiliation. What else are venerable universities proving when 바카라사이트y list 바카라사이트ir alumni? What does a researcher beginning a project at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge in 2010 really inherit from Newton or Maxwell? Every student and faculty member with any direct association with those illustrious forebears has long since been replaced. What torch is passed? Among both ancestors and descendants, 바카라사이트re will be great scholars and 바카라사이트re will be duds. Little or nothing is really carried forward - as anyone who discovers a murderer in 바카라사이트 ancestry will be quick to point out.

The more you look, 바카라사이트 less 바카라사이트 genealogies seem like 바카라사이트y are even trying to map influence or record 바카라사이트 spread of ideas. Instead, we can see that 바카라사이트 lineages play a primarily social role. Collins called such practices "intellectual rituals". But 바카라사이트y are not especially "intellectual". Like any initiation rite, 바카라사이트y streng바카라사이트n group cohesion through 바카라사이트 public declaration of community membership. When 바카라사이트 new ma바카라사이트matics PhDs add 바카라사이트ir names to 바카라사이트 MGP, 바카라사이트y are announcing 바카라사이트ir arrival.

These genealogies have little to do with inheritance, and everything to do with solidarity - less about what you "really" are, and more about what you want to inherit. And in that respect at least, 바카라사이트 analogy with genetic family trees is legitimate and it is strong.

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