to describe how scientists are awarded authorial credit for their work, the sociologist robert k. merton applied the term the matthew effect of accumulated advantage, in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. with the "parable of the talents", merton metaphorically described the system of authorial rewards used, among the community of scientists, whereby famous scientists usually are awarded credit that is disproportionately greater than their contributions, while less-famous scientists are awarded lesser credit than is merited by their contributions; see also stigler's law of eponymy: "no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer."