Overview

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 Schon from Bell Labs and his work in semiconductors; and J. Georg Bednorz and Karl Muller'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.

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9780691139661

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Reviews

The strength of this slim volume is that the author knows and understands his subject well and can talk from experience and from the heart. -- Michael J.G. Farthing Times Higher Education Physicist David Goodstein asks why some scientists are driven to misrepresent results. His book On Fact and Fraud uses well-known cases to look at how science is conducted and to remind us that not all 'fraudulent' scientists are guilty. -- Joanne Baker and Sara Abdulla Nature A textbook on scientific ethics that begins with a primer on inductive reasoning and ends with university guidelines for research conduct sounds dull, but David Goodstein has created an entertaining book studded with laugh-out-loud moments... Goodstein's candour and humour make this book a delight to read, and he's very good at explaining physics, too. -- Jonathan Beard New Scientist On Fact and Fraud is a thought-provoking analysis of scientific ethics and, in particular, the way the 'reward system' and 'authority structure' of research can lead people astray. -- Clive Cookson Financial Times Offers a useful and lucid account of different examples of scientific fraud or misconduct, and describes the motivations or risk factors. Federal Technology Watch A genial guide, [Goodstein] shows that sometimes the deciding line between fact, self-delusion and outright fraud is hard to spot. -- Peter Forbes The Independent This excellent little book ... challenges some of the conventional notions of where the line lies that separates good from bad or real from phony science. -- Harry Eagar Maui News Sadly for science, not all fraudsters get caught. For starters, David Goodstein says, serious misconduct isn't always easy to identify. Self-deception, an ends-justifying-means mentality and concealing controversial research can muddy the ethical waters. Goodstein, head of the fraud squad at Pasadena's California Institute of Technology, claims it's possible to set up protocols to reduce faking, fabrication and plagiarism. -- Leigh Dayton Australian

Author Information

David Goodstein is the Frank J. Gilloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His books include Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil and Feynman's Lost Lecture.

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