BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:Communication Colloquium: Atypical Combinations and Scientific Impact X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260512T060024Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_953679 DTSTART:20141103T183000Z DTEND:20141103T194500Z DESCRIPTION:Often purported but rarely tested is the claim that science is spurred on when atypical ideas are united\, inspiring fresh thinking to pr oblems. Yet\, many scientific ideas and innovations intentionally build in convention\, rather than remove it. Here\, we analyzed all 17.9 million research papers in the web of science\, circa 1945–2005 using a methodo logy that characterizes each paper’s conventional and novel combinations of prior work. We find that the premium often expressed for papers with novelty is at odds with the reality that most scientific work typically dr aws on highly conventional mixtures of knowledge. Especially virtuous com binations are not characterized by novelty or conventionality alone. Rath er\, the highest impact papers interject novelty into otherwise unusually conventional combinations of prior work\, and remarkably\, are twice as li kely to top the citation distribution. Finally\, teams are more likely th an solo scientists to interject novel combinations into their papers\, sug gesting that the exceptionalism of teams is an ability to incorporate nove lty. Finally\, these empirical regularities are largely universal\, appea ring across fields and decades\, suggesting fundamental rules about creati vity in science. At root\, our work suggests that creativity in science a ppears to be a phenomenon of two extremes. At one extreme is conventional ity and at the other is novelty. Curiously\, advancing to the frontier of science appears best served not by efforts along one boundary or the othe r but with efforts that reach toward both frontiers.\n\n \n\nBrian Uzzi is a globally recognized scientist\, teacher\, consultant and speaker on lea dership\, social networks\, and new media. He holds the Richard L. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Leadership at the Kellogg School of Management\ , Northwestern University. He also co-directs NICO\, the Northwestern Univ ersity Institute on Complex Systems\, is the faculty director of the Kello gg Architectures of Collaboration Initiative (KACI) and holds professorshi ps in Sociology and the McCormick School of Engineering. He has lectured a nd advised companies and governments around the world and been on the facu lties of INSEAD\, University of Chicago\, and Harvard University. In 2007- 2008\, he was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley w here he was the Warren E. and Carol Spieker Professor of Leadership. Addi tional information on Professor Uzzi may be found here: http://www.kellogg .northwestern.edu/faculty/uzzi/html GEO:42.448212;-76.479431 LOCATION:Kennedy Hall\, 213 SUMMARY:Communication Colloquium: Atypical Combinations and Scientific Impa ct URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.cornell.edu/event/communication_colloquium_aty pical_combinations_and_scientific_impact CATEGORIES:Lecture END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR