How moving affects creativity: 100 years of data

A new study has found that Nobel laureates who changed jobs more often or combined work at different institutions started their breakthrough research much earlier than their more "sedentary" colleagues.

The study was conducted by economists from Ohio State University, New York University in Abu Dhabi and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. They analysed the career trajectories of Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, medicine and physics from 1901 to 2003, focusing on when and where their work leading to the prestigious award began.

Details: John C. Ham et al, Recombinant Innovation, Novel Ideas, and the Start of Nobel Prize-Winning Work, International Economic Review (2025). DOI: 10.1111/iere.12768

The results speak for themselves:

• scientists who changed jobs every two years started their Nobel Prize-winning research two years earlier;

• those who worked at several institutions at once accelerated by almost 2.6 years.

As Professor Bruce Weinberg, one of the study's authors, explains, changing research environments allows scientists to encounter a variety of ideas, perspectives and methods.

"When you stay in one place for a long time, you quickly exhaust your social circle. Conversations start to get repetitive and you come to a single, established understanding. For a truly new idea to emerge, you have to go outside the usual circle," he notes.

It's not just about moving. Working in several institutions at the same time - for example, in a university and a research centre like CERN - also has an effect. It's these moves that encourage ideas from different scientific 'ecosystems' to come together, creating the conditions for innovation.

Interestingly, the average time it takes to start a Nobel has remained virtually unchanged between 1901 and 2003. But those who moved more frequently reduced that time substantially.

The authors also note that the effect may not just apply to scientists.

"Artists, writers, engineers - anyone working in creative fields can benefit from a change of environment. Sometimes it's enough to get into a new cultural or professional environment to change the way you look at familiar things," says Weinberg.