For instance, I was already aware of Nobelists begetting Nobelists (though I didn’t know it was so common!), but I’ve no clue how much of the correlation’s actually a chose-the-right-field effect rather than a chose-the-right-mentor effect. It could be that most of the gains from having a Nobel-winning mentor come from riding the same bandwagon as them, rather than the mentor being especially stimulating. Zuckerman might have explored this issue but I don’t know her work well enough to say.
For instance, I was already aware of Nobelists begetting Nobelists (though I didn’t know it was so common!), but I’ve no clue how much of the correlation’s actually a chose-the-right-field effect rather than a chose-the-right-mentor effect. It could be that most of the gains from having a Nobel-winning mentor come from riding the same bandwagon as them, rather than the mentor being especially stimulating. Zuckerman might have explored this issue but I don’t know her work well enough to say.