

Phdtree: create and discover your academic family history - phdtree
http://phdtree.org/scholar/search/

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phdtree
We're a tiny team of two people working on this side project over nights and
weekends. Essentially it is a Wiki site that allows users to create & edit
their academic family tree. So far all the basic wiki functions like CRUD,
tracking edit history, compare different versions, reverting back to previous
versions, simple search, advanced search, etc are completed. It is built with
Django/Python.

We would really appreciate it if Hacker News community can provide some
feedback/comments/suggestions. Many many thanks :)

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seanmcdirmid
If you must have a login, use an existing ID system, don't roll your own. Its
too much of a security risk these days; use Facebook, Google, Live ID, or
whatever.

I was going to fill in the tree beneath my adviser, but I really can't afford
to come up with yet another password for a one off account.

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phdtree
Thanks for the feedback, added to to-do list, will enable users to log in
using third party authentication like facebook, twitter, linkedin, google+,
etc.

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tibbon
Hmm, how did you get the data? 100% user added wikiness, or did it pull from
some other 'tree' sources like Neurotree (<http://neurotree.org/neurotree/>)?

I was able to find my girlfriend, which was pretty cool.

One piece of feedback from her to have in the tree itself, is each person's
institution.

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bendmorris
I found myself and none of my advisor's other students, so I'm assuming that
part of the data came from <http://academictree.org>, which has the same
problem.

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hansbo
Similar idea to The Mathematics Genealogy (which is, as the name implies, only
for mathematicians).

<http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/>

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phdtree
Yes, we want to build a database of academic family tree across all fields,
not just math, not just physics, not just chemistry. Scientific research is
becoming increasingly interdisciplinary.

When you think about it, the modern discipline of computer science emerged in
the 20th century. Most of the first generation computer scientists are
actually either physicists or mathematicians.

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saintx
Or philosophers--specifically logicians.

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laurentoget
This is pretty neat, though this was available for math already. I wish you
would aggregate some information up the tree, i.e. not only the list of
students but a count of the students' students, etc...

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pc86
Wasn't this posted just a few weeks ago?

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carlob
yes it was. I guess that's why this one points to the search page instead of
the front page…

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omnisci
I found myself, but some of the info was incorrect. I created an account and
edited the record. I wasn't sure where the info came from, but I see it pulls
from neurotree (which is also incorrect). Nice front end though, much nicer
than neurotree :) Keep up the good work

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phdtree
Thank you for correcting any errors!

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lucasmo
I really like this idea!

Here's a tip: Brazil has a really large academic platform (Plaforma Lattes)
which is widely used. I'm not sure it's possible, but it would be great if you
could use the information. Check it here: <http://lattes.cnpq.br/> (plus, the
search page:
[http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/busca.do?metodo=apr...](http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/busca.do?metodo=apresentar))

I'm aware that Brazil is not exactly the center of the Academic world, but PhD
research is a pretty globalized endeavour. Plus, it would be fun to see how
the pedigree lines crosses borders.

Plus, this might be one of the largest database in the world. Every single
Brazilian professor I've meet has a profile there.

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phdtree
Thanks, this is very valuable information, checking it out right now.

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happyhappy007
Just did a search on PG, here is PG's profile:
<http://phdtree.org/scholar/graham-paul-2/>

Didn't know he had a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard in the early 90s.

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ricw
doesn't seem to work.. neither for myself or my former phd supervisor.

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phdtree
Please create an account and add your and your phd supervisor to the database.
The site is meant to be a wiki, anyone can edit/add new profiles.

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BellsOnSunday
Blimey, my family history goes back to Leibniz, made my day.

