Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The rules are:
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It was a convenient quote, but I admit it overstates its case. A more defensible version would probably sound like "A disproportionate amount of advances in science comes from outsiders to the field".
The three names which pop into my head without going to Google are Schliemann (and Calvert), Wegener, and Sokal :-)
So, Schliemann and Calvert were indeed amateurs. Wegener seems to have been as much polymath as field-switcher (aside from continental drift, he worked in meteorology and astronomy). Sokal's work in mathematics and physics seems (1) not particularly, ah, boundary-transgressing and (2) not especially notable, so I guess you are referring to his foray into bullshit-hunting; that was indeed successful but I don't see that it was a major advance in science.
This doesn't seem like a disproportionate amount. In fact, I would naively expect quite a lot of major ad... (read more)