Exclusive: official investigation reveals how superconductivity physicist faked blockbuster results
Exclusive: official investigation reveals how superconductivity physicist faked blockbuster results
The confidential 124-page report from the University of Rochester, disclosed in a lawsuit, details the extent of Ranga Dias’s scientific misconduct.
What would motivate someone to do something like this? I don't get it. He had to know he'd be found out eventually when the magic superconductors didn't work.
It's because writing research grants, getting them approved, and publishing papers on that research has become more about getting the money and less about producing quality results.
I can't watch something with sound right now, but even if he got some money out of it, wouldn't it be less than he loses by ruining his entire career and reputation? I wouldn't even hire someone who did that as a cashier. I'd expect them to steal from the register or something.
The harder it is to reproduce the experiment the less likely you are to be caught, and in the meantime you get paid to live your dream job as a world renowned scientist. It's the whole "fake it til you make it" scheme ever-present in every field.
Oof. Bad guy. Good article.
Wasn't this also in the news a few years ago when a material scientist was nominated for a Nobel Prize before he was caught to have faked almost a third of his publishings?
It's the whole electroplaning fiasco of the 1970s all over again.