Nobel disease

Nobel disease or Nobelitis is an informal term for the embrace of strange or scientifically unsound ideas by some Nobel Prize winners, usually later in life.[1][2][3] It has been argued that the effect results, in part, from a tendency for Nobel winners to feel empowered by the award to speak on topics outside their specific area of expertise,[4][5][6] although it is unknown whether Nobel Prize winners are more prone to this tendency than other individuals.[7] Paul Nurse, co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, warned later laureates against "believing you are expert in almost everything, and being prepared to express opinions about most issues with great confidence, sheltering behind the authority that the Nobel Prize can give you".[8] "Nobel disease" has been described as a tongue-in-cheek term.[5]

  1. ^ Gorski, David (18 August 2008). "High dose vitamin C and cancer: Has Linus Pauling been vindicated?". Science Based Medicine. sciencebasedmedicine.org. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. ^ Gorski, David (4 June 2012). "Luc Montagnier and the Nobel Disease". Science Based Medicine. sciencebasedmedicine.org. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. ^ Robson, David (6 August 2019). The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-65143-0.
  4. ^ Winter, David (8 October 2011). "The Nobel disease". The Atavism. Sciblogs. Wellington, New Zealand: Science Media Centre. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b Berezow, Alex (18 December 2016). "Paul Krugman Now Has Nobel Disease". American Council on Science and Health. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  6. ^ Weigmann, Katrin (April 2018). "The genesis of a conspiracy theory: Why do people believe in scientific conspiracy theories and how do they spread?". EMBO Reports. 19 (4). doi:10.15252/embr.201845935. ISSN 1469-221X. PMC 5891410. PMID 29491005.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Nurse, Paul (11 October 2013). "Attention, Nobel Prize winners! Advice from someone who's already won". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2021.