Relative age effect on Nobel laureates in the UK

Objectives

We set out to assess the relative age effect (RAE) on UK Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine. The academic year of the UK begins in September; therefore, children in one classroom may have an entire year’s difference in age (i.e. children born in September and those born in August of different years). This relative age difference could cause a disadvantage in the younger students compared to the older students within one classroom.^1–3 In fact, the Higher Education Funding Council for England recently reported that fewer summer-born students progress through the higher education system in the UK, and that if all English students had the same chance of going to university as those born in September then there would typically be around 12,000 extra young entrants per cohort, increasing young participation by two percentage points. ⁴

Design

The dates of birth for UK Nobel laureates were obtained from the official web site of Nobel Prize (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/birthdays.html).

Setting

The United Kingdom.

Participants

There have been 62 Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine who were born in the UK. There is no restriction on a single person receiving repeated honours, thus there is one case in which a single individual has received two prizes; Frederick Sanger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in both 1958 and 1980.

Main outcome measures

The seasonal birth pattern of the UK had an amplitude of slightly below 15%, with peak birth rates observed in March and September, from 1948 to 1983. ⁵ This was a precondition for us to use the χ ² test to determine whether the distribution of dates of birth for UK Nobel laureates was uniform or not.

Results

As shown in Figure 1, UK Nobel laureates born in the various quarters were 26 (41.3%, September–November), 11 (17.5%, December–February), 13 (20.6%, March–May) and 13 (20.6%, June–August). Non-UK Nobel laureates born in the various quarters were 120 (24.8%, September–November), 108 (22.4%, December–February), 119 (24.6%, March–May) and 136 (28.2%, June–August). Since these satisfied the assumptions of the test, a χ ² test indicated that the distribution of UK laureate birthdays was not uniform (N = 63, P = 0.028), whereas that of non-UK laureate birthdays was approximately uniform (N = 483, P = 0.347).

Figure 1

Distributions of dates of birth of the UK and non-UK Nobel laureates

Conclusions

UK Nobel laureates were significantly more likely to be born between September and November. Our findings could indicate the incidence of RAE, although the underlying mechanism of RAE on scientists remains to be determined.