Duncan J. Watts

Duncan J. Watts (born 1971) is an Australian researcher and a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research, where he directs the Human Social Dynamics group. He is also a past external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute and a former professor of sociology at Columbia University, where he headed the Collective Dynamics Group.^[1] He is author of the book Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age^[2] and Everything is Obvious * Once You Know the Answer: How Common Sense Fails Us (ISBN 978-0385531689).^[3]

Life and work

Duncan Watts was born in 1971. He received a B.Sc. in physics from the University of New South Wales and a Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics from Cornell University. He describes his research as exploring the "role that network structure plays in determining or constraining system behavior, focusing on a few broad problem areas in social science such as information contagion, financial risk management, and organizational design."^[4] Among his many published works he is particularly known for his 1998 paper with Steven Strogatz in which the two presented a mathematical theory of the small world phenomenon.^[5] More recently he has attracted attention for his modern-day replication of Stanley Milgram's small world experiment using email messages and for his studies of popularity and fads in on-line and other communities.

See also

• Complex network
• Social network
• Small-world network
• Small world experiment
• Clustering coefficient
• Steven Strogatz
• Watts and Strogatz model

Bibliography

Selected works:

• Watts, D.J.; Strogatz, S.H. (1998). "Collective dynamics of 'small-world' networks". Nature 393 (6684): 440–442. Bibcode 1998Natur.393..440W. doi:10.1038/30918. PMID 9623998. 
• Watts, D.J. (1999). "Networks, Dynamics, and the Small-World Phenomenon". AJS 105 (2): 493–527. doi:10.1086/210318. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?AJSv105p493PDF. 
• Watts, Duncan; Dodds, Peter; Newman, M. E. .J. (2002). "Identity and Search in Social Networks". Science 296 (5571): 1302–1305. arXiv:cond-mat/0205383. Bibcode 2002Sci...296.1302W. doi:10.1126/science.1070120. PMID 12016312. 
• Watts, Duncan (2002). "A simple model of global cascades on random networks". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99 (9): 5766–5771. Bibcode 2002PNAS...99.5766W. doi:10.1073/pnas.082090499. PMC 122850. PMID 16578874. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=122850. 
• Dodds, Peter; Muhamad, Roby; Watts, Duncan (2003). "An Experimental Study of Search in Global Social Networks". Science 301 (5634): 827–829. Bibcode 2003Sci...301..827D. doi:10.1126/science.1081058. PMID 12907800. 
• Watts, Duncan (2003). Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393041425. 
• Watts, D.J. (21 April 2004). "The New science of networks". Annual review of sociology 30: 243–270. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16005763. 
• Dodds, P.S.; Watts, D.J. (2004). "Universal Behavior in a Generalized Model of Contagion". Physical Review Letters 92 (21): 218701. arXiv:cond-mat/0403699. Bibcode 2004PhRvL..92u8701D. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.218701. PMID 15245323. 
• Watts, D.J.; Muhamad, R.; Medina, D.C.; Dodds, P.S. (2005). "Multiscale, resurgent epidemics in a hierarchical metapopulation model". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102 (32): 11157–11162. Bibcode 2005PNAS..10211157W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0501226102. PMC 1183543. PMID 16055564. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0501226102v1.pdf. 

References

External links

• [1] Home page of Duncan Watts at Yahoo Research
• Clive Thompson (2008-02). "Is the Tipping Point Toast?". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/is-the-tipping-point-toast.html. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 
• Duncan Watts (2003-02). Six Degrees: The Science of the Connected Age. http://www.media.mit.edu/events/movies/video.php?id=watts-2003-02-12. Retrieved 2008-07-29.