Stigler's law

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Proposed in 1980 by statistics professor Stephen Stigler (born 1941).

Proper noun[edit]

Stigler's law

  1. The cynical observation that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer.
    • 2020, Ferenc Csatári, Measurement and Meaning, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 83:
      Thus Hempel's paradox, later indeed popularized by Hempel, is a nice example of Stigler's law: nothing is named after its inventor. It[sic] worth noting that according to Stigler's testimony, Stigler's law is also an example of Stigler's law, being invented by the sociologist Robert K. Merton (Stigler 1980).