[johnwalkr]

I feel like there’s a threshold for fame that needs to be met for giving credit in the English-language, mainstream media. A famous name like Stephen Hawking would get directly credited for a result. A less famous researcher’s result would get credited to their school (eg MIT). Outside of well known western names and institutions, the result would get credited to the country (eg China or Japan).

The exception is underdog stories.

[spaetzleesser]

That’s my observation too. Whenever something is reported they try to attach a big name to the headline. Be it “Harvard”, “Elon Musk” or something else.

It seems this is another sign of inequality. The already famous get even more fame.

[johnwalkr]

Yes! Elon Musk is a perfect example of this!

[quaintdev]

This has to be called some kind of effect which is probably already on Wikipedia.

[libraryofbabel]

Yes! It is the Matthew Effect, coined by socialist of science Robert Merton: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect

“eminent scientists will often get more credit than a comparatively unknown researcher, even if their work is similar; it also means that credit will usually be given to researchers who are already famous”