The Crucial Things in Science Often Happen Quite Unexpectedly—Das Entscheidende in der Wissenschaft geschieht oft ganz unerwartet (K. Alex Müller)

Abstract

We analyzed the publication output of one of the 1987 Nobel Prize awardees, K. Alex Müller, using bibliometric methods. The time-dependent number of publications and citations and the network with respect to the coauthors and their affiliations was studied. Specifically, the citation history of the Nobel Prize awarded 1986 article on “Possible high-temperature superconductivity in the Ba-La-Cu-O system” has been evaluated in terms of the overall number of articles on superconductivity and the corresponding citations of other most frequently referenced articles. Thereby, a publication with “delayed recognition” was identified.