Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ProgressStudies

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Here’s an obvious thought: more scientists, more discoveries; fewer scientists, fewer discoveries. But is that true? Let’s take a look at a few papers studying two (traumatic) upheavals in the scientific labor force. #ThursdayThreads #ProgressStudies.
First; Nazi Germany's 1933/1940 dismissal of Jewish (and other) academics. Because the dismissals varied by university, this can be used as a (grim) experiment on the impact of rapidly reducing your scientific labor force.
Waldinger (2016) tracks the fallout on German chemistry, physics, and mathematics departments over the ensuing decades. He finds, no surprise, departments that dismissed more faculty had fewer publications and fewer citations in the ensuing decades.
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True or false:
Science ==> Technological progress.
Here's a thread on recent research trying to answer that question. #ThursdayThreads #ProgressStudies
Many would say answer is obviously "true." But some think technological breakthroughs mostly come from tinkering, and aren't guided by science. Others say ivory tower academics are disconnected from the real world and focus on irrelevant problems.
How to approach the problem systematically? One way is to look to patents. Patents aren't perfect records of invention are still useful. They provide very detailed information on millions of inventions across all sectors of the economy.
Read 25 tweets

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