On fact and fraud : cautionary tales from the front lines of science / David Goodstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goodstein, David L., 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fraud in science.

Research--Moral and ethical aspects.

Research.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (185 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

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 Fraud looks 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 Schön from Bell Labs and his work in semiconductors; and J. Georg Bednorz and Karl Müller's discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, a seemingly impossible accomplishment that turned out to be real. On Fact and Fraud provides a user's guide to identifying, avoiding, and preventing fraud in science, along the way offering valuable insights into how modern science is practiced.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

One. Setting the Stage

Two. In the Matter of Robert Andrews Millikan

Three. Bad News in Biology

Four. Codifying Misconduct: Evolving Approaches in the 1990's

Five. The Cold Fusion Chronicles

Six. Fraud in Physics

Seven. The Breakthrough That Wasn't Too Good to Be True

Eight. What Have We Learned?

Appendix. Caltech Policy on Research Misconduct

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786612608254

9781282608252

1282608258

9781400834570

1400834570

OCLC:

638860580