Stigler's law

English

Etymology

Proposed in 1980 by statistics professor Stephen Stigler (born 1941).

Proper noun

Stigler's law

1. The cynical observation that no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer.
   • 2020, Ferenc Csatári, Measurement and Meaning, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 83:

     Thus Hempel's paradox, later indeed popularized by Hempel, is a nice example of Stigler's law: nothing is named after its inventor. It^[sic] worth noting that according to Stigler's testimony, Stigler's law is also an example of Stigler's law, being invented by the sociologist Robert K. Merton (Stigler 1980).