Professor Sir Philip Cohen has been named as the world's second most quoted scientist. Philip comes second amongst 561,800 biologists and biochemists who published research papers over the ten years between 1992 and 2002.
Such is the importance of Sir Philip's work to other scientists that, during this period, his research was cited 14,186 times, according to the Philadelphia based Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). He comes in only a few hundred citations behind Professor Robert Lefkowitz of Duke University, North Carolina, US in first place, but nearly 1,500 citations ahead of Professor Roger Davis of the University of Massachusetts, the scientist in third spot.
Other scientists with a Dundee connection to be commonly cited include Dr Dario Alessi, also of the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, who holds 44th place. Dr Peter Parker who carried out his postdoctoral training in Dundee with Philip Cohen from 1979-1982 occupies 60th place.
The 69th spot was claimed by Professor Jim Woodgett, who completed his PhD Degree at Dundee from 1982-1985, under Cohen's supervision. Dr Parker now heads a research group at the London Research Institute of Cancer Research UK, while Professor Woodgett is based at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Philip Cohen said: "It is remarkable that Dario Alessi is so high. At 36, he must be far and away the youngest in the top 200. It is also great to see that some of the people who trained with me many years ago, like Peter Parker and Jim Woodgett, are now making their own significant impact on the field. To be in the top 100 is remarkable, because anyone in the top 5,000 ranks among the top 1% of most quoted scientists. The release of this information by ISI can only enhance the reputation of our MRC Unit as one of the best places in the world to be trained and to carry out excellent science."