Nobel chemists are late-bloomers when you compare them with other laureates

An image showing the 2018 Chemistry Nobel prize winners

Source: © Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Analysis reveals chemistry laureates perform their cutting edge work later in their careers

It is a fairly well-known statistic that the average age at which a scientist wins the Nobel Prize is 59. But a new analysis has investigated the age at which Nobel laureates actually do the research that won them the prize.

Rasmus Bjørk, a researcher at the Technical University of Denmark, used biographical information on past winners from the ‘advanced information’ documents published by the Nobel Foundation, which cite the papers that are considered most relevant to the prize for each laureate.