The dude got away with it for years and was just about to offered a teaching post at PRINCETON! It turns out it wasn't just the data for his project that was faked, he also faked CV stuff too, like a fake award for innovative teacher or some such.
Gives science a bad name and a black eye. This went on for more than 10 years!
Originally posted by sonhouse http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/05/how-a-grad-student-uncovered-a-huge-fraud.html
The dude got away with it for years and was just about to offered a teaching post at PRINCETON! It turns out it wasn't just the data for his project that was faked, he also faked CV stuff too, like a fake award for innovative teacher or some such.
Gives science a bad name and a black eye. This went on for more than 10 years!
I think there's a lesson here for people who bought into it. One of the fundamental principles of science is that you can reproduce the results. It's harder in social sciences (obviously), but you should land in the same ballpark. Until such reproduced results are generated by researchers independent of the original team, especially if it seems too good to be true, it shouldn't be trusted so completely. Here, a large reason for why this fraud succeeded is Green's participation, but whomever stands behind an article, if it's findings have not been reproduced, nor successfully built on, it should not be trusted.
I like what this story demonstrates though. If somewhat belated, it demonstrates that the scientific method works, in finding and weeding out fraudulent results.
Ha - narcissistic personality disorder - he does all the visible things, to gain plaudits, but it's a house built on sand. Just like London Bridge in the end it all falls down.
Another major science fraud uncovered:
31 May '15 17:53
Back to Top