Visualising the academic mobility of Nobel laureates

Over the past decades, not only scientists have become increasingly mobile but also their scholarly migration has become less skewed and more globalised (Zhao et al., 2023). The migration of scientists, particularly Nobel laureates, not only mirrors the knowledge flows and networks between cities but also underscores the spatial evolution of the world’s scientific hubs. While some studies have delved into the distribution and collaborative networks of Nobel laureates and their affiliated institutions (Schlagberger et al., 2016; Wagner et al., 2015), the understanding of Nobel laureates’ academic mobility remains limited. Specifically, there is a need to closely examine the flow, frequency, and destinations of Nobel laureates’ scholarly migration and especially how their patterns of migration evolve across different geopolitical epochs.

To address this gap, we elucidate the trajectories of academic mobility for 734 Nobel laureates by establishing a life-course database encompassing NLs in science and economics from 1901 to 2023. We visualise each time of their scholarly migration happened over the academic life course in Figure 1. We specify how the migration patterns of NLs and world’s scientific centres evolved across different geopolitical eras, including Phase A (–1945, Pre-World War II period), Phase B (1946–1991, Cold War period), and Phase C (1992–2023, Globalisation period).OPEN IN VIEWER

In total, 734 NLs migrated 2710 times, with internal mobility accounting for 62.7% of all scholarly migration. In Phase A, international scholarly migration was diversified, with Germany, the UK, and the USA serving as the three cores of destination. However, this pattern became more polarised in Phase B, with the USA attracting 45.9% of all scholarly immigrants. In Phase C, the scholarly migratory patterns of NLs underwent a process of re-diversification, as mobility of NLs happened in countries beyond US and Europe became more significant. While USA’s dominance in attracting NLs declined in Phase C, it still served as the major sending country of NLs.

In terms of scientific mobility, NLs have exhibited a trend of reduced mobility over the past 120 years. On average, there were 2.26 movements per person (mp) during Phase A, 2.22 mp during Phase B, and a significant decrease to 0.54 mp during Phase C. This decline is particularly evident in international mobility: 0.93 mp in Phase A, 0.75 mp in Phase B, and 0.22 mp in Phase C. The mobility tendencies of NLs contrast with those of normal scientists, who have been more internationally mobile over the past 50 years (Zhao et al., 2023). This trend could be attributed to the de-spatialisation of scientific knowledge and the de-centralisation of scientific infrastructure in the digital age, along with geopolitical forces and migration policies aimed at retaining NLs.