Report: Superconductivity researcher found to have committed misconduct

Details of what the University of Rochester investigation found are not available.

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[fenncruz]

At least the grad students stuck to their principles ...

Sad if we can't trust even Nature.

We could never trust Nature. I would joke that a there's a 50% and chance any paper in Nature was wrong.

I think I may have underestimated that chance.

 

[fenncruz]

i always wonder what the endgame for people like this is.

like a) if you're promising an earth shattering, commercializable breakthrough, it will be scrutinized. do you honestly think that your forged data will withstand scrutiny and recreation attempts? if you don't think your forgery will stay up, what on earth is your exit strategy? and b) lordy the grad student co-authors of your paper know that you bought the material, and they know what the data actually is. what on earth did you think was going to happen when you lie so blatantly??

I expect they've convinced themselves that their results actually prove things. Those things they fudged where just minor issues to make the paper look better and of no material consequence. They just need a bit more time and a bit more money to get the fully working device out of the door. Any time now it will definitely work this time...