Career landmarks in science: Individual differences and interdisciplinary contrasts.

A conceptual framework is introduced for interpreting individual differences in the developmental location of the first, best, and last contributions of a creative career. Eight hypotheses are offered that specify how the placement of the 3 landmarks over the life span should vary according to both individual differences (in age at career onset, lifetime productivity, and eminence) and interdisci-plinary contrasts (resulting from the inherent cognitive requirements of each field). The hypotheses are then confirmed on a sample of 2,026 scientists and inventors (even after introducing controls for potential artifacts). The results (a) place further constraints on theoretical explanations of the relation between age and creative productivity, (b) lead to new predictions regarding how creative achievement may vary across and within careers, and (c) suggest how to examine changes in creative potential from childhood through old age. Perhaps the oldest research topic in empirical life span devel-opmental psychology is the relation between age and creative productivity. More than 150 years ago, Quetelet (1835/1968) applied statistical methods to the problem of how the output of successful plays varies over the career course (see also Beard,