VulpesZerda Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Has anyone here ever looked into their academic lineage? I found academictree.org and was so captivated by what I found! I can trace back to the founders of my sub-field, and William James (father of American psychology). I can't be the only nerd who has done this? :-) Or maybe I am just a procrastinating narcissist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzylogician Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Nope, I do it too. I have my immediate ancestors as part of my "about me" page on my website, and it's easy enough to trace it back from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I can get to Hegel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I haven't traced it back further than my supervisors' supervisors. But in a related note, there are tons of people who do think about the same thing. For example, there is the "Erdos Number Project": http://wwwp.oakland.edu/enp/ . (Erdos has an Erdos number of 0, coauthors of Erdos has a number of 1, coauthors of coauthors of Erdos has number 2, etc.). There are also other "numbers" for other famous researchers.It's not quite the same idea as an advising family tree but it's similar because one is likely a coauthor with their supervisor, so if your supervisor has a number of N then you will at least be N+1. In any case, it's not just you---there are entire projects and databases (and in the case of the Erdos project, even algorithms) written to determine these connections Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunky Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I haven't traced it back further than my supervisors' supervisors. But in a related note, there are tons of people who do think about the same thing. For example, there is the "Erdos Number Project": http://wwwp.oakland.edu/enp/ . (Erdos has an Erdos number of 0, coauthors of Erdos has a number of 1, coauthors of coauthors of Erdos has number 2, etc.). There are also other "numbers" for other famous researchers.It's not quite the same idea as an advising family tree but it's similar because one is likely a coauthor with their supervisor, so if your supervisor has a number of N then you will at least be N+1. In any case, it's not just you---there are entire projects and databases (and in the case of the Erdos project, even algorithms) written to determine these connections my Erdos number (as per http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html) is 5. i thought it would be less but i'm much closer to other statisticians that i admire so that's OK but i always thought this whole "academic lineage" thingy was more of a Physics/Math thingy. i didn't know now all the sciences are jumping into the bandwagon.now the real question is... WHAT IF PEOPLE END UP DATING THEIR ACADEMIC RELATIVES WITHOUT KNOWING?!?!? TXInstrument11 and VulpesZerda 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 now the real question is... WHAT IF PEOPLE END UP DATING THEIR ACADEMIC RELATIVES WITHOUT KNOWING?!?!?One of my former research advisors was also the research advisor for another one of my former research advisor. And I almost went to a program where my research advisor would have been the postdoc advisor for the first person in my last sentence and the PhD advisor of the second person in my last sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haltheincandescent Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 now the real question is... WHAT IF PEOPLE END UP DATING THEIR ACADEMIC RELATIVES WITHOUT KNOWING?!?!?Recently I was looking at the CV of a potential PhD advisor, whose work had been an influence on and was cited in my thesis, curious to see what sort of dissertations he had advised in the past, & if my work would be a good fit. And, hey, look, unbeknownst to me: he was my thesis advisor's dissertation advisor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantasticalDevPsych Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I tried to but just like trying to figure out my own family tree I can't get very far... I know the immediate "relations" of both my undergrad and grad advisor though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Erdős number is irrelevant - I want to know your Erdős-Bacon number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulpesZerda Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Recently I was looking at the CV of a potential PhD advisor, whose work had been an influence on and was cited in my thesis, curious to see what sort of dissertations he had advised in the past, & if my work would be a good fit. And, hey, look, unbeknownst to me: he was my thesis advisor's dissertation advisor...That happened to me, too! My current advisor's advisor was the main inspiration behind my college thesis. She said I could meet him someday (which would be like meeting a celebrity to me) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulpesZerda Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 I tried to but just like trying to figure out my own family tree I can't get very far... I know the immediate "relations" of both my undergrad and grad advisor though. Yeah, it's easier for some people than for others. I got extremely lucky that as you go up the tree the psychologists are more and more well-known. So I really trust the accuracy! But if one of them went into industry that would ruin the whole sequence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhr Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 My field is relatively young, and my subfield is even younger, so family trees are people that I see at conferences. There are two main trees in my subfield (or, at least the general subfield that my sub subfield falls into) and I made sure to have someone from each one on my committee.For what it's worth, no one in my tree is actually listed on that site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunnerGrad Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 My fields aren't listed on that site. I am curious as to whether it lists any Canadians, or if it is US-centric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulpesZerda Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 My fields aren't listed on that site. I am curious as to whether it lists any Canadians, or if it is US-centric.It traces my field back to its German origins. Also, you guys mind find it interesting that someone branched a tree in theology with John the Baptist and Jesus Christ at the beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 My fields aren't listed on that site. I am curious as to whether it lists any Canadians, or if it is US-centric.I think these types of websites rely on users adding their info, rather than automatically populating the tree. So, it would only list Canadians if Canadians started to use it So far, the physics tree on that website has a grand total of 2 people and that's not really making me want to add it to lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantasticalDevPsych Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 On 10/27/2015 at 5:41 PM, FantasticalDevPsych said: I tried to but just like trying to figure out my own family tree I can't get very far... I know the immediate "relations" of both my undergrad and grad advisor though. Update: I made it back to Sigmund Freud... not sure what to think about that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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