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Steve Wisdom

6/10/04
Nobelity

A nobly placed Spec notes:

Nobel prize laureates (per capita)
United Kingdom 1.66 per 1 million people
United States 0.92 per 1 million people
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/peo_nob_pri_lau_cap

Incredibly, Drs Sewell and Miller have tossed this around all day without sharpening the pencil and running the numbers.

To nudge my betters in the right direction, below are Dr Sewell's per-capita 'Nobelity' numbers, augmented with distance-from-Stockholm data, measured to the capital.

Amazingly enough, the correlation is about -30% .. . so the farther from Sweden you live, the less likely the Swedes will award you a prize! Who'd have guessed?

Country Nobelity Distance from Stockholm, km

1. Iceland 3.56 2135
2. Sweden 3.37 0
3. Switzerland 3.00 1547
4. Denmark 2.41 522
5. Norway 1.75 415
6. UK 1.66 1431
7. Austria 1.34 1243
8. Ireland 1.27 1629
9. Germany 0.93 811
10. US 0.92 6641
11. Netherlands 0.92 1126
12. Belgium 0.87 1283
13. France 0.81 1545
14. Finland 0.38 396
15. Slovakia 0.36 1246
16. Canada 0.31 5998
17. Australia 0.30 15630
18. Hungary 0.29 1318
19. Italy 0.24 1978
20. Portugal 0.19 2991
    

Steve Wisdom, a Pennsylvania-born Harvard graduate, has been Victor Niederhoffer's right-hand man off and on for more than 15 years. He also has been associated with Trout Trading, Societe Generale and Deephaven Fund