Visualising the academic mobility of Nobel laureates

Abstract

The academic mobility of Nobel laureates (NLs) epitomises not only the inter-urban knowledge flows and networks but also the spatial evolution of the world’s scientific hubs. Yet the understanding of the mobility and patterns of Nobel laureates’ scholarly migration remains limited. To address this gap, we elucidate the trajectories of academic mobility for 734 Nobel laureates and how their migratory patterns change in different geopolitical eras by establishing a life-course database encompassing NLs in science and economics from 1901 to 2023. First, the migratory patterns of NLs have evolved from multi-cored diversification in Phase A (–1945) to polarisation in Phase B (1946–1991) and to re-diversification in Phase C (1992–2023). Second, the academic mobility of NLs, and especially their international mobility, has significantly declined over the past century, which contrasts with other observations that scientists tend to be more mobile as globalisation advances.