Speaker: Dr Quentin L Burrell
Overview: In seeking the most influential research mathematician, we first need to ask how we should measure influence. In 2005, Jorge Hirsch proposed an index to reflect the importance of research physicists based upon their productivity – through publications – and influence – through the citations that they gathered. Already the idea has been extended to other academic fields and more general areas of application.
In this talk we will look at how the index is calculated and indicate some pros and cons. We will then seek to explore the essential elements of the index via a simple mathematical model for the way that scientists publish their work and gather citations. This will be illustrated by a specific real-life example. Agreement between the theoretical model and the empirical evidence is encouraging but we will highlight some discrepancies.
Note that the question posed in the title will not be answered, but you will at least find out how to do it yourself – with a little help from the internet!
All Members’ Evenings will be at Yn Ynnyd Chegney, Crosby unless stated above
Meetings will commence at 7.45 p.m..
