On Fact and Fraud : Cautionary Tales from the Front Lines of Science

by Goodstein, David

• ISBN13: 9781400834570
• ISBN10: 1400834570
• Copyright: 2010-03-11
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Fraud in science is not as easy to identify as one might think. When accusations of scientific misconduct occur, truth can often be elusive, and the cause of a scientist's ethical misstep isn't always clear.On Fact and Fraudlooks at actual cases in which fraud was committed or alleged, explaining what constitutes scientific misconduct and what doesn't, and providing readers with the ethical foundations needed to discern and avoid fraud wherever it may arise.In David Goodstein's varied experience--as a physicist and educator, and as vice provost at Caltech, a job in which he was responsible for investigating all allegations of scientific misconduct--a deceptively simple question has come up time and again: what constitutes fraud in science? Here, Goodstein takes us on a tour of real controversies from the front lines of science and helps readers determine for themselves whether or not fraud occurred. Cases include, among others, those of Robert A. Millikan, whose historic measurement of the electron's charge has been maligned by accusations of fraud; Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons and their "discovery" of cold fusion; Victor Ninov and the supposed discovery of element 118; Jan Hendrik Schouml;n from Bell Labs and his work in semiconductors; and J. Georg Bednorz and Karl Muuml;ller's discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, a seemingly impossible accomplishment that turned out to be real.On Fact and Fraudprovides a user's guide to identifying, avoiding, and preventing fraud in science, along the way offering valuable insights into how modern science is practiced.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Setting the Stage	p. 1
In the Matter of Robert Andrews Millikan	p. 29
Bad News in Biology	p. 51
Codifying Misconduct: Evolving Approaches in the 1990s	p. 59
The Cold Fusion Chronicles	p. 69
Fraud in Physics	p. 97
The Breakthrough That Wasn't Too Good to Be True	p. 107
What Have We Learned?	p. 127
Appendix: Caltech Policy on Research Misconduct	p. 135
Acknowledgments	p. 147
Notes	p. 149
Index	p. 155
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