Today marks a pretty exciting day for all of us here at ResearchGate HQ. We’re welcoming our two millionth member to the network and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Back in May 2008 a few curious researchers logged onto the newly launched ResearchGate and were obviously as convinced as we were that this was something big. They invited their colleagues, collaborated, and built strong connections that kept them coming back. Needless to say we happily and steadily grew.

Now, roughly four years and a few months later (okay, it’s been 1,580 days. Yes, we’ve been counting) two million researchers are using the network to publish their work, share their results, and build their reputation. Throughout this time we’ve heard some amazing stories that we’d like to share with you, stories about discovery, scientific progress, and of course, friendship.

Rafael Luque, Professor of Organic Chemistry at Universidad de Córdoba in Spain, signed up to ResearchGate in September 2008, and found an unlikely co-author in Rick Arneil Aracon, a graduate of Xavier University, Philippines. Together, they developed a highly efficient, eco-friendly and low-cost catalyst for biofuels made from corn cob residues. In September 2013, Rick will join Rafael’s lab in Cordoba as a PhD student.

Orazio Romeo, a mycologist from the Università degli Studi di Messina in Italy and Emmanuel Nnadi, microbiologist at the University of Jos in Nigeria also met in a topic discussion on the network. Together they discovered the first occurrence of a pathogenic yeast in Nigeria. Emmanuel visited us at our headquarters when he was in Berlin for a conference this summer.

David Chau is one of our most recent users. He stumbled into a discussion that had a huge impact on his current project. Through ResearchGate, he managed to connect with colleagues from different departments within his university and, as a result, gain access to equipment for the experiments he was conducting. He is now working on an innovative technique to detect tiny quantities of water in biological samples. Sadly, we can’t tell you more… There could very well be a patent pending.

So on this very special day, we’d like to say to all our members: thank you for being part of our story.

Here’s to many more years of discovery, progress, and innovation.

Do you have an RG tale you’d like to tell? Drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.