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Physicist Loses Degree for Data Falsification
cheese_wallet writes "Jan Hendrik Schoen was stripped of his doctoral degree by his university for fabricating data in his research. From the article: 'Schoen, now 34, was fired by Bell Laboratories in New Jersey in September 2002 after an outside review committee concluded that he made up or altered data 16 times while working in the hot fields of superconductivity and molecular electronics'."
I've read about this in Germany: the law (in most states of the federation, I guess), allows a university to recall a doctor's degree, if the person proves to be unworthy (regarding science) at a later time.
Faking data is not to be taken lightly - scientists rely on the quality of previous work. If several other scientists have wasted years of their time because of this, that's a lot of damage done.
Some links: The article in german and Google's attempt at translating it
I don't know how it is in the US, but in Germany you can get your PHD revoked when you misuse it for unethical purposes. You know that when you get it, it is in all the documents you get and sign.
Since the PHD is a certificate that you are able to conduct scientific research, falsifying your data would certainly contradict this ability.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
AT THE height of his career in 2001, Hendrik Schön was producing papers at the remarkable rate of one every eight days" New Scientist: With hindsight, it was a hell of a lot of papers
The Hoaxes of Jan Hendrik Schoen
RTFA. I did and have since re-read it and found the following informative information.
In Germany, some universities can even revoke your PhD if you've commited a felony (unrelated to your PhD or any misuse of knowledge) and were sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year or longer. I always thought that was kind of bizarre.
For example, the RWTH Aachen does this. Here's the relevant text (Promotionsordnung der RWTH, see 19, "Verlust des Doktorgrades") Sorry, German only.
The Dr.rer.net (Doctorus rerum naturae) he got from the University of Constance. And this university has written down in their regulariae, that a Dr. can be removed, if the person who got the title awarded, proved itself unworthy to have the title. Mr. Schoen proved unworthy in his scientific life, faking or completely making up results, erasing all evidence (There is no raw data available from his experiments, he erased it 'because space was running out on his computer') and knowingly publishing false results.
that's why later I said: ...and also it helps you in learning how to conduct scientifically correct experiments.
:)
You are right, of course
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#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
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Science is a method, not a religion. Its fundamental principle is one of constant refinement towards some unachievable truth; and has nothing to do wit finding the simplest answer, but the answer that fits.
the layman's guide to computer science
I realize you're joking, but first of all Linus only has a Masters degree. Furthermore (AFAIK, please do correct if I'm mistaken) in Finland degrees can't be revoked; there was a case a while back where one politicians thesis was found to be very blatant copying from another work - yet he got to keep his PhD.
The actual news article is brief and did not mention any academic fraud, so I am forced to assume that the degree is being recinded due to his actions since being awarded the degree.
Exactly. He was manipulating results. I don't have all the details in my head but reportedly, he used identical graphs to visualize results... problem was, there were very different tests which could not have produced those same results.
Do degrees "expire"?
Not AFAIK. But a academic degree basically shows your ability to work and research in an accurate, precise and honest manner - at least that is the idea, or how I think of it. Writing a doctoral thesis is just that: a way to prove you are able and "worthy" (for lack of a better word).
Once you have shown your ability, the degree does not expire, just like your abilities do not expire. Now, in this case, falsifying data casts a serious shadow of doubt whether you have those abilities - and consequently, you are in danger of losing your degree.
This is also codified, at least in Germany, as another poster already pointed out. If a PhD seriously misbehaves, he/she loses the degree. There is no fixed definition of what has to happen, nor have I heard of any other cases like this. But the rule is there and he knew it (at least he should have).
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
"RTFA. He has cheated while at Bell Labs, not at the university. Maybe you should check some facts yourself before accusing people of not knowing what they are talking about?"
l ler/fraud -27.htm
From:
http://home.t-online.de/home/Bernhard.Hi
"He is suspected to have falsified data also during his stay at University of Konstanz, according to the committee."
I'm not going to vouch for the accuracy of the above link but TFA is not the sole source of facts for the case.
-- "Do you even know your daughter? There's no way she likes that song. Oop, is she in a coma?"
Please read up on the issue before stating nonsense. Schoen simply re-used the same data for >10 totally different experiments. That's not filling gaps, it's simply fraud. (Filling gaps is wrong, too -- after all, an experimental scientist is not supposed to figure what should be, but reproducably measure what is actually there.)
The bad Dr. Schön (aka Schoen) and his forged data were discussed on /. two years ago, when Bell Labs sacked him for the same reason.
The university he got his degree from was the University of Konstanz in Germany. Here's a German article (babelfished) on the whole thing. The educational laws of the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg state that a PhD title can be removed if "through his behavior at a later point in in his career, the owner has proven unworthy of the title."
From Bell Labs' summary, we can find more about what he was charged with:
Academia is far from as pure as the public might imagine. It is troubled with the same problems as the rest of society.
For those who don't know of him, George Ricaurte is the NIDA scientist which recently had to retract a severly flawed paper on MDMA neurotoxcity. Part of the problem is that NIDA is in the business of sustaining the War On Some Drugs, a multi billion business. It is in their interest to sustain funding for research that confirms the basis for this "war". Researchers which come up with results that are contrary to this cause (ie. which debunks common myths of toxicity and other perceived dangers) are committing career suicide.
The MDMA neurotoxcity paper by Ricaurte came under heavy fire for flawed methods when it was first released (mostly from partisan researchers with nothing to lose). The paper has since been used to push anti-MDMA legislation (like the RAVE act), both in the US and in other countries. The main reason the paper was retracted was the discovery that Ricaurte and his team hadn't even used MDMA in their animal toxcity experiments, but a completely different chemical. A small error (as Ricaurte claims) or evidence of very foul play? The company which supplied the chemicals claim that such a mixup is absurd and extremely unlikely.
Still, this has only put a small dent in Ricaurte's reputation, since he is working for the "good cause". The science behind it doesn't seem to be important, it's the underlying goals. He is now involved in new NIDA research with the same goals as before, to "prove" that MDMA is an inheritly dangerous and evil chemical.
For more information about the retraction, see the retraction itself and the response from MAPS.
Science is the a very good method to make the world understandable, but the public would do well to be a tad more sceptical and understand that a scientific degree is no automatic proof of pure intentions or valid results, there is almost always bias. Especially when there are large sums of money involved.
Er, well, the building basically exists, but the students in your story do not.
The building is Kresge Auditorium. It was designed by Eero Saarinen, one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. He also designed (e.g.) the St. Louis Arch and the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport.
A somewhat biased but detailed view of Kresge Auditorium is available here. As you can see, no PhD theses are mentioned.
The building's roof is a single thin concrete shell. The original design was very ambitious, such that the roof was to be supported only at the three points where the shell contacts the ground. The design was later changed so that the mullions in the large banks of windows would bear some of the load.
Kresge Auditorium was one of the first buildings of this type. More thin shell concrete structures available here.