This paper analyzes the remarkable success of Dutch scientists near the end of the nineteenth century, as exemplified by five Nobel laureates in the period 1901–1913. Some historians suggest that the key factor contributing to the sudden rise of Dutch science was the establishment of a new type of high school, called HBS, which generated unprecedented social mobility of middle-class pupils to Dutch universities. The HBS also provided a pathway for its science teachers to write a PhD thesis outside the walls of the university. Taking a core-periphery approach, we compare the effects of an HBS-background (periphery) and Royal Academy membership (core) on the recognition that Dutch professors. Consistent with core-periphery theory, we find that professors who taught at the HBS while writing their PhD–remote from university influences–made the most creative contributions to science, and also confirm that academy members were attributed more success than non-members.