Scientists' Competitive Behavior Is Not Peculiar To Our Competitive Age

Scientists' Competitive Behavior Is Not Peculiar To Our Competitive Age Author: Robert K. Merton, pp.12 century, America's preeminent science historian/sociologist, Robert K. Merton, has played a valuably instructive role in analyzing the processes of science and in elucidating the research world's manners and mores. The recipient of many awards, the 84-year-old Merton-- University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University in New

Written byRobert Merton
| 8 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
8:00
Share

Scientists' Competitive Behavior Is Not Peculiar To Our Competitive Age
Author: Robert K. Merton, pp.12

century, America's preeminent science historian/sociologist, Robert K. Merton, has played a valuably instructive role in analyzing the processes of science and in elucidating the research world's manners and mores.

The recipient of many awards, the 84-year-old Merton-- University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University in New York and a member of the National Academy of Sciences for the past quarter-century--was most recently honored by the American Council of Learned Societies. In April, he was invited to deliver the Washington, D.C., organization's prestigious Haskins Lecture to cap the 75th-anniversary celebration of its founding.

The author of numerous influential works--most notable, perhaps, his 1965 book On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postcript (3rd ed., University of Chicago Press, 1993)--Merton has achieved international acclaim for the pertinence and applicability of his subject matter, the scope and precision of ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Published In

Share
Image of small blue creatures called Nergals. Some have hearts above their heads, which signify friendship. There is one Nergal who is sneezing and losing health, which is denoted by minus one signs floating around it.
June 2025, Issue 1

Nergal Networks: Where Friendship Meets Infection

A citizen science game explores how social choices and networks can influence how an illness moves through a population.

View this Issue
An illustration of green lentiviral particles.

Maximizing Lentivirus Recovery

cytiva logo
Unraveling Complex Biology with Advanced Multiomics Technology

Unraveling Complex Biology with Five-Dimensional Multiomics

Element Bioscience Logo
Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Twist Bio 
The Scientist Placeholder Image

Seeing and Sorting with Confidence

BD

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Waters Enhances Alliance iS HPLC System Software, Setting a New Standard for End-to-End Traceability and Data Integrity 

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Agilent Unveils the Next Generation in LC-Mass Detection: The InfinityLab Pro iQ Series

agilent-logo

Agilent Announces the Enhanced 8850 Gas Chromatograph

parse-biosciences-logo

Pioneering Cancer Plasticity Atlas will help Predict Response to Cancer Therapies