Diffusion of knowledge and globalization in the web of twentieth century science

► Glassy stretched exponential relaxation is the oldest unsolved problem in science. ► The curated data base bifurcates into two ”magic” exponents β1=3/5 and β2=3/7. ► Diffusion to traps derives β1 from short hops, β2 from mixed short/long hops. ► Long hops occur because of long-range Coulomb or elastic polymer interactions. ► 600 million 20th century citations bifurcated into β1=3/5,3/7 (<, >1960).