On 05/02/2015 12:23 PM, Imre Berger wrote:
Dear Edward -
Would you be so kind and explain why you went ahead to post that comment
about Alex Rich on CCP4, in a thread which announced the sad news of his
passing away?
Yes- I realized after posting it that it was inappropriate. If there is any way
to remove a post, I will be glad to do so. In any case an apology is due.
As for the explanation, I did not intend it to be in any way derogatory.
I have never met Alex Rich, but Prof Sung-Hou Kim was my mentor in
crystallography, and I have no doubt that their actions were completely
honorable. As explained on the page I linked, it was all a misunderstanding
based on poor communications between Kim and Rich, and rapid progress on the
part of Kim that Rich was not aware of at the previous meeting. There was no
evidence of actual misconduct on the part of Rich or Kim, as grudgingly
acknowledged in the final letter from Cambridge. If only I had pointed that out
in the email, instead of linking to that first accusatory message, it wouldn't
have looked so bad. I had forgotten how inflammatory that first letter was!
I was thinking this followed in the lines of Bob Sweet's post, that Rich was a
hard-driving man and maybe not afraid of stepping on some peoples toes in order
to achieve his goals. I never meant to imply misconduct, although after reading
back on my post I can see that interpretation.
My sincere apologies to the community and to the memory of professor Rich,
Ed Berry
I have checked your home page and your CV and it is not obvious to me at
all what motivation or stake you could possibly have.
Besides, knowing both Alex Rich and Aaron Klug and having discussed
with them years ago, I think it is fair to say that only those two are
concerned with the issue, and one of them has - very sadly - just died.
In any case - in my view it is highly inappropriate indeed that you
placed those comments on CCP4.
Maybe you could be so kind and remove your contribution from the thread
- it would be greatly appreciated.
"De mortuis nihil nisi bonum"
Imre
--
Imre Berger PhD HDR
Professor of Biochemistry
Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator
Coordinator, EC FP7 ComplexINC project
The School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol UK
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL
imre.ber...@bristol.ac.uk
iber...@embl.fr
