Physicist Albert Einstein, widely regarded as one of the most prolific scientists of the past century, conducted much of his transformative work at the beginning of his career, before spending years defending his theories against the burgeoning field of quantum mechanics.
A new study shows that Einstein is not alone, and that most researchers begin their careers conducting their more disruptive work — overturning conventional wisdom and forging paths of their own — but as they age, they tend to abandon that groundbreaking energy. Instead, many become adept at connecting previously unlinked ideas. The paper, published Thursday in Science, helps offer an explanation of a trend that has increasingly worried scholars of science policy and innovation: that the pace of discovery has slowed in recent years.
