Samuel Arbesman

Research

My research interests lie within the field of computational social science. I am interested in applying computational and mathematical models to understand the relationship between social interactions, scientific discovery, productivity, innovation, and generosity. Additionally, I am interested in understanding how geography affects social networks.

My research within these areas includes the examination of the nature of productivity and prosocial behavior within cities, quantifying the ease of scientific discovery, and studying how people invent. In addition, I have explored the connections between the structure of linguistic networks and how language is processed in the brain. I have also studied a bit about hitting streaks in baseball.

Publications

Mauboussin, A. and S. Arbesman. Differentiating Skill and Luck in Financial Markets with Streaks (August 23, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1664031.

Arbesman, S. Quantifying the ease of scientific discovery. Scientometrics (in press, available online). Available on the arXiv: 0912.1567 [Physics and Society].

Arbesman, S, and N. Christakis. Leadership Insularity: A New Measure of Connectivity Between Central Nodes in Networks. Connections 30(1): 4-10. 2010. [Leadership Insularity code]

Arbesman, S, S. Strogatz and M. Vitevitch. Comparative analysis of networks of phonologically similar words in English and Spanish. Entropy 12(3): 327-337. 2010.

Arbesman, S, S. Strogatz and M. Vitevitch. The Structure of Phonological Networks Across Multiple Languages. International Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos 20(3):679-685. 2010. Available on the arXiv: 0903.0872 [Physics and Society].

Arbesman, S, J. Kleinberg and S. Strogatz. Superlinear Scaling for Innovation in Cities. Phys. Rev. E 79 (1). 2009. Available on the arXiv: 0809.4994 [Physics and Society]. Reprinted in Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research 17 (3). 2009.

Arbesman, S, L Enthoven, A Monteiro. Ancient Wings: animating the evolution of butterfly wings patterns. BioSystems 71: 289-295. 2003. [Ancient Wings can be found here]

Arbesman, S, and S. Strogatz. A Monte Carlo Approach to Joe DiMaggio and Streaks in Baseball. arXiv: 0807.5082 [Popular Physics] (unpublished manuscript).