Harvey Fletcher Did His Phd with Millikan, Was Essential in the Conception of the Idea of Using an Oil Drop Method and Designed the Set-Up
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Research integrity (and ethics in science) Sabine Van Doorslaer Research integrity issues (and possible solutions) are discussed widely in the press all over the world Most university governers have taken research integrity as a central theme in their policy Flanders 2040 – Challenges for the LOCAL EXAMPLE universities of the future Herman Van Goethem Flemish rectors address research integrity in their opening speeches of the academic year 2018-2019 Themes of Open access and quality measurement of research are addressed https://www.uantwerpen.be/images/uantwerpen/container1957/files/auha_rede_pagesEN_dig_180921(1).pdf Integrity and trust: absolutely vital for a university Luc Sels https://www.kuleuven.be/communicatie/congresbureau/opening-academiejaar/english/speeches/speech-by-rector-luc-sels Some descriptions of science entail already its biggest dangers Wikipedia-definition: “Die Geschichte der Wissenschaften ist eine Science is a systematic enterprise grosse Fuge, in der die Stimmen der Völker nach that builds and organizes knowledge und nach zum Vorschein kommen” in the form of testable explanations In “Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre” – J. W. and predictions about the universe Goethe “Science does not purvey absolute truth, science is a mechanism. It’s a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature, it’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match.” Isaac Asimov (writer and biochemist) “Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers of the preceding generation.” Richard Feynman (physicist and Nobel prize winner), talk held in 1966 for the National Teachers Association, US ALLEA CODE OF CONDUCT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRITY Scientists have a moral responsibility Research practices are based on very fundamental principles The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, ALLEA, 2017 [1] A code of conduct… ? When are the fundamental principles being violated? Violations of Scientific Integrity (1) FFP The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, ALLEA, 2017 [1] Violations of Scientific Integrity (2) grey zone – sloppy science The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, ALLEA, 2017 [1] Violations of Scientific Integrity This case attracted for the first Examples of fabrication and falsification time the attention to the Dr. John Darsee [2,3] possibility of scientific fraud - Brilliant student and medical researcher (cardiology) - 1979: becomes research fellow in the Cardiac Research Laboratory in Harvard University - He is performing so well that his direct boss gives him a tenured position in 1981 - BUT: in that year, doubts start to arise about his research results - More investigations reveal that Darsee invented and falsified data - 1983: Several of his scientific papers were withdrawn from the literature and Darsee gets a disciplinary penalty (essential loses right to act as medical doctor) - Darsee names stress, too much work and ambition as reason for FF [3] - Co-authos knew little about the scientific work [2] - Darsee’s boss (E. Braunwald) was criticized because he had to little interaction with his senior researcher and he even created a stressful atmosphere in the lab, urging to get everything done quickly [2,3] - Even years after the discovery of the fraude, Darsee’s work is being cited [3] Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Was it the first case? Of course not, another example Robert A. Millikan [4] Nobel prize in Physics 1923 for the measurement of the charge of the electron via an oil drop experiment In his “seminal” paper of 1913 [5] Millikan writes Discovery of his lab books: he performed 140 experiments, and took only those that agreed with his hypothesis (“publish this surely/beautiful!!” versus “error high, will not use”) Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Was it the first case? Of course not, another example Robert A. Millikan [4] There was a warning in the first paper [6], where he described a first attempt with a set-up that was conceptually less well designed He actually says here that he is in the habit of discarding observations that do not match his expectations [7] Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Was it the first case? Of course not, an other example Robert A. Millikan [4] Felix Ehrenhaft (Austrian physicist) - In competition with Millikan (and they were criticizing each other’s experiments) - had done similar experiments and found a large spread on the results -> his results seemed less reliable than those of Millikan [4,7,8] Millikan was so convinced of being right and did some “cherry picking” in his 1913 paper -> the scientific community is marveled by the results and he gets the Nobel Prize [4] Moreover, Millikan’s scientific intuition was correct Is science harmed here ? Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Was it the first case? Of course not, an other example Robert A. Millikan It was a case of falsification, and yet there is still a lot of discussion on-going. Some argue that Millikan was merely neglecting “failed” experiments, others see this as fraud Modern (educational) books on physics ignore largely this fraud discussion and Millikan-Ehrenhaft controversy [8]: Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Was it the first case? Of course not, an other example Robert A. Millikan There was more: Harvey Fletcher did his PhD with Millikan, was essential in the conception of the idea of using an oil drop method and designed the set-up. Even though he was a co-author on later papers, it was Millikan who was the sole author on the first paper (ensuring him the Nobel prize) Harvey Fletcher [9]: Loyalty can play an important role in sustaining the fraud It is not always that easy to judge Personal conflicts may play role in alleged research misconduct cases 1821 – time of his apprenticeship with Davy Faraday makes a current-carrying wire rotate about a magnet Publishes it in Quaterly Journal of Science Michael Faraday (apprentice) Accuses Faraday of stealing his ideas (Wollaston had done some unsuccesful experiments at the Royal Institution when visiting Davy) If proven right, it would have ended Faraday’s career (ungentelmanly behavior was not tolerated) BACKGROUND OF THE CONFLICT: William Hyde Wollaston How appropriate was it for a lab assistant to presume to carry out (aristocrate) experiments in a field already “owned” by other, more important figures? Can the assistant’s work even be considered to belong to him rather than the master? I. Rhys Morus, ‘Michael Faraday and the electrical century’, Icon Books Ltd., London (2017) Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Dr. Diederik Stapel [10] • Till 2011: full professor social psychology at University Tilburg • Won several scientific prizes • Attracted a lot of media attention (“pop-star researcher”): a.o. meat eaters are less social and people become more rude when they think of meat • 2011: 3 young researchers from his group ventilate their suspicion of fraud to the head of department • Stapel turn out to have frequently fabricated data. He gave his students excel- files, with so-called data from inquiries, but he had fabricated the data himself. Many papers were then retracted. • New York Times called him “The biggest con man in academic science” • This had implications for his co-workers that had drawn scientific conclusions on the basis of the data provided by him -> all their work was retracted • He gives ambition as reason and the fact that some of the experimental data was not clear enough, while it was obvious to him what should be the true answer Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification Dr. Diederik Stapel [11] Violations of Scientific Integrity Examples of fabrication and falsification closer to home https://retractionwatch.com This researcher worked both at the Leiden University Medical Centre and at UAntwerpen After the discovery of the fraud, she was fired in both institutes (2013) Again work stress and failing resultats are given by the researcher as reasons for the fraud EOS survey (2013) – Science fraud – the hard figures (R. Verbeke) https://studylib.net/doc/8650857/science-fraud--the-hard-figures Nature survey (2016) – Reproducibility of science [12] Questions answered by 1576 researchers Nature survey (2016) – Reproducibility of science [12] Questions answered by 1576 researchers Trust in published research is very low in scientific community Why scientific misconduct? Sociology of science according to Robert Merton [13] Merton described the 4 norms of science: “universalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism” Extract from [13]: -> personal ambition can play an important role (see Stapel) Why scientific misconduct? There are many roads that lead to misconduct T Comment in Nature in 2018 [14] R A G WORK LOAD E D I E S © Nature Something to discuss during the break... [15] True or false?? Why scientific misconduct? Was introduced for as a tool for The neoliberal research evaluation system [4,16-19] librarians to make an optimal choice in which journals to buy Science is captured and evaluated in numbers: given a limited budget h index, number of papers, impact factors of papers, number of citations, number of finished PhDs, amount of research money, number of projects, … Web of science: example of Kurt Wüthrich (Nobel prize winner) An array of bibliometric tools !! Why scientific misconduct? The neoliberal research evaluation system [4,16-19] Science is captured and evaluated in numbers: h index, number of papers, impact factors of papers, number of citations, number of finished PhDs, amount of research money, number of projects, … Is used in all evaluations: to From [17]: assign (governmental) research money (grants), promotions and hiring of researchers, … science is a competitive business Where and how much you publish has a direct influence on what you can realize in your research.