Stigler’s Law: Whose idea is it anyway?

When it comes to discoveries and inventions that changed the world, people like to applaud and commemorate the geniuses responsible. But how many times are we actually celebrating the right person? 

As an artist and writer, I loathe the idea of someone taking credit for my work. This isn’t something that makes me unique – in fact, I think all humans care about attribution to some degree (even those who swear high and low that they don’t). When we do something or create something that we are proud of, we automatically want that something to continue to be linked to our name.

Not to get too philosophical too early in this article, but isn’t it true that while our bodies are mortal, our ideas live forever?

A Stigler for a good idea

A little while ago, I learned about something called Stigler’s Law of Eponymy. This concept was first introduced by a University of Chicago statistics professor named Stephen Stigler in his 1980 publication of the same name. In short, Stigler’s Law suggests that no scientific discovery is ever named after its original discoverer. To prove his point, Stigler provided quite a few real-world examples.

• Arabic numerals. Most people associate them with, well, Arabs, but they were actually first used in India around the 7th century. 
• Another famous example is the Pythagorean theorem. Although it’s named after the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras, evidence suggests that Babylonian mathematicians understood this principle long before his time. 
• Venn diagrams are named after John Venn, who popularised them in the 1880s, but Leonhard Euler had already introduced them in 1768.
• Then there’s Halley’s Comet. Although Edmond Halley correctly predicted its return, this celestial phenomenon had been observed by astronomers since at least 240 BC. Halley’s contribution was in the mathematical prediction, not the initial discovery, yet the comet bears his name.

What’s amuses me the most about Stigler’s law is that Stigler credited its discovery to sociologist Robert K. Merton. Yes, you understood that correctly – even Stigler’s Law itself is named after the wrong person. Stigler claims to have done this on purpose as a playful way of illustrating his point, thus further highlighting the ubiquitous nature of this phenomenon.

The issue with originality

Now, I understand why hearing about something like Stigler’s Law might demotivate those who like to think of themselves as pioneers. While that spirit of invention is often found in the origin stories of great businesses, it is actually a bit of an illusion. And seeing an illusion revealed can be a somewhat jarring experience. 

I remember a particular lecturer at art school who upset me deeply one day when she quoted Mark Twain: “There is no such thing as an original idea” (although, now that we know about Stigler’s Law, I should probably go check if it really was Mark Twain that said that first). To this already crushing phrase she then added her own little epilogue: “Every original idea is just unintentional plagiarism”. 

As a young artist, utterly convinced that my brain was brimming with original and important ideas, this was not something that I wanted to be true. Yet the quote stuck with me, irritating me like a grain of sand inside an oyster until it delivered a pearl of wisdom. 

In truth, the step away from the pressure to produce something completely new was much more freeing than I expected it to be. And from that freedom flowed a different type of creativity: the creativity of the remix. 

To illustrate my point, consider the full version of that Mark Twain quote: 

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of coloured glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

Is there anything wrong with a refined idea? I don’t particularly think so. Any business that was built on the idea of a competitor will tell you the same – think of the likes of Facebook after MySpace or Netflix after Blockbuster+. There are definite benefits to improving instead of inventing. Inventing something from nothing is a messy game that often results in blind spots and missed opportunities. Assessing an existing idea from the outside often provides the ideal vantage point, a view from which to see the steps towards perfection. 

Every idea worth having has already been had. So now what?

Ask any person on the street who invented the first automobile, and you are almost certain to receive Henry Ford as the answer. However, the story of the automobile actually started with Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French military engineer who built a steam-powered tricycle in 1769 to haul artillery. Because it was steam-powered, not everyone considers Cugnot’s invention the first true automobile.

The title of the first real car often goes to Karl Friedrich Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, two German inventors who, working independently in different cities, both created their own gasoline-powered vehicles in 1886. Benz actually drove his three-wheeled car in 1885, making it the first practical modern automobile and the first commercially available car in history.

In 1908 came Henry Ford, the name now synonymous with the automobile. Ford of course is famous for the Model T, which he mass-produced using a revolutionary moving assembly line. This innovation made cars affordable for middle-class Americans and changed the landscape of auto manufacturing forever – perhaps part of the reason why his name has been permanently affixed to the idea of those early era cars.

In one of my recent articles, which covered the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I discussed the fact that a hydrogen-powered supercar was tested on the track for the first time this year. This is a massive technological leap from the first petrol-powered cars that put-putted their way out of the Ford factory. While their work is certainly innovative, the inventors of the hydrogen supercar cannot claim to have to have invented the automobile. 

Perhaps they understand something of the mental kaleidoscope that Mark Twain referenced in that famous and irritating quote: the fact that invention in the 21st century relies on the combination of existing ideas and materials in new and useful ways.

The invention of the automobile – by Cugnot, Benz, Daimler and Ford – may have changed the trajectory of mankind, but the constant innovation of the automobile is what will drive us into the next century. 

About the author: Dominique Olivier

Dominique Olivier is the founder of human.writer, where she uses her love of storytelling and ideation to help brands solve problems.

She is a weekly columnist in Ghost Mail and collaborates with The Finance Ghost on Ghost Mail Weekender, a Sunday publication designed to help you be more interesting.

Dominique can be reached on LinkedIn here.