By guest blogger, Andy Jackson
Well, I guess we all knew this was coming:
Dr Hwang and six members of his team were suspended from working at SNU last month pending a disciplinary investigation…..
“The disciplinary committee has decided to fire Hwang and to take punitive action against six other professors,” a university spokesman told the French news agency AFP…..
“The professors fundamentally abandoned honesty and sincerity… and caused the fall in the school’s honour and the country’s international confidence,” the university said in a statement.
Dr Hwang’s dismissal means he is automatically banned from taking up any government-funded teaching or research for up to five years, the spokesman said.
Much like I did with Charles Jenkins back in 2004, I am now declaring a one-man moratorium on Hwang bashing (which, of course, does not extend to any of the other writers at the Hole). Other than the inevitable fraud charges and possible jail time, I think he has been punished enough and sufficient warning given to other scientists who might consider faking data. Yes, some still will fudge the books, but others will think twice before trying to publish any “fake but accurate” papers.
I also think this whole incident is instructive for those of us who may have thought that members of the scientific community where somehow more honest than the general public.
9 Comments
I actually believe this is the exact reason why these “scientists” lie. There is no victim, they are quick to point out. Some go as far as to say that these “exaggerations” or “unintentional misunderstandings” do bring in more research money into crucial area(translation, their pockets) of modern scientific advances.
People, after a while, say these scientists have suffered enough for their scientific zeal (translation, ego) and should be forgiven.
I am a scientist. I differ from general public. I know how dirty squandrels like Hwang actually aimed for this outcome when they fudged data(translation, pulled the numbers out of a hat, “eleven stem cell lines to match exact patients’ DNA”, MY FOOT!). They know the general public will let them go eventually.
F*** ‘em. Get Hwang and his team. And, everyone who even remotely lied for him. There are many, including other laboratory members who “fixed” data for him. Get all of them.
And, send them to jail. For ten years or more, for spending tax money in the hotel parties, sightseeing tours and bribes to officials which includes Nobel prize committee members. I even believe some tax money has been spent on buying prostitutes.
Scientists should be held in a higher moral standard, and suffer the ire of public in all of its fury.
Anything to push the baseball post farther down the screen.
Baduk, just curious, are you a US scientist? Just wondering, does the US put those cold fusion guys in jail?
criminal charges should definitely be brought against hwang and his cronies for the devastation they have done to the korean scientific community. that could help everyone to move past this whole debacle and restore at least a modicum of respect to the governing authorities. however, i doubt that will come to pass.
unfortunately, the shame that hwang faces in korea does not translate well outside of the country, and his firing is seen as a mere slap on the wrist in most advanced scientific communities. criminal charges are really the only way to show the rest of the world that korea will not stand for such utterly tragic bullshit.
in the same vein, the enron boys should be strung up by their balls. literally. strung up and left to castrate in full public view. however, i doubt that they will have to pay for their thievery and deception either.
I heard a rumor that Hwang will be back in action (probably not at SNU) before too long. Hope not though, that would really hurt the credibility of the scientific community in Korea.
wjk,
Yes, MS Chemistry at StonyBrook. I have not worked in research arena, but in an applied science, environmental testing and cleanup.
Cold fusion guys were not imprisoned. However, they are discredited so much that no journal will accept any of their works, even if they are not related to “cold fusion”.
thanks for the reply, Baduk. Good luck at Stony Brook
I feel like crap right now, because Japan won tonight’s game. But, I watched some of it, and you have to give it to them for playing good baseball.
I saw Matsuzaka set up purposefully with inside pitches on several occasions, to work a strikeout, and induce a pop out. Throwing in the 90’s for most pitches. Can’t fake skill and experience.
South Korea will have its day…soon. Damn Ichiro Suzuki, condescending, racist Japanese supremacist garbadge. Age soon, accumulate injuries, and retire.
To the best of my knowledge those cold fusion guys didn’t commit fraud, they simply posted their results for others to replicate and nobody could. The didn’t spend $20 million in taxpayers’ money on junkets, prossies and God knows what else. They also weren’t ungrammatically labeled “pride of nation, hope of world” as far as I recall.
“They didn’t spend…” How come this edit thingy doesn’t work?