Devine, James wrote: > > >How do we know that none of them submit some of their papers with > mistakes that are known to them?< > > It's not just those who use computer programs who suffer from this. >
\Chang, Kenneth. "Bell Labs Forms Panel to Study Claims of Research Misconduct,"New York Times, 21 May 2002, p. A14.\ Responding to accusations of scientific misconduct, Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories has formed a panel to examine the validity of some recent impressive experiments, including a claim last fall that it created a transistor in which the electronic switch consists of a single molecule. The panel of five scientists includes a winner of the Nobel Prize and a former dean of humanities and sciences at Stanford University. "We've asked the panel to look into concerns about the validity of data published in five papers," said Bill Price, a Lucent spokesman. In 2000, scientists led by Dr. Bertram Batlogg, director of solid state physics research at Bell Labs, started publishing a series of articles describing how they grew crystals out of organic molecules and then varied their electronic properties by applying electric fields from transistors attached to the crystals. There has been persistent skepticism about the experiments, reported in the journals Science, Nature and Applied Physics Letters, both because of their importance and because other scientists have not been able to reproduce them. Cutting-edge research often brings skepticism and Lucent scientists have said that growing crystals out of the organic molecules is not easily mastered. On May 10, however, Lucent received information from an outside researcher that caused enough concern that it began assembling the panel on the following Monday. Mr. Price declined to say what the accusations were or who had made them. The panel is headed by Dr. Malcolm R. Beasley, a professor of applied physics at Stanford and the former dean of its School of Humanities and Sciences. The other members are Dr. Herbert Kroemer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000; Dr. Supriyo Datta, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University; Dr. Herwig Kogelnik, a scientist at Bell Labs; and Dr. Donald P. Monroe, a scientist at Agere Systems, a planned spinoff of Lucent. Dr. Beasley said he hoped the panel would finish its work by the end of summer. "We will report back to Lucent on our findings whether we believe there has been scientific isconduct or not," he said. Dr. Beasley said he had not yet received information on the ccusations from Lucent, but also said, "I think the quality of the committee reflects how seriously people are taking this." Dr. Batlogg left Lucent in November 2000 and is now a professor of physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an unpaid consultant for Lucent. The recent work on the molecular transistors has been led by Dr. J. Hendrik Sch"n, a physicist at Bell Labs, and the only scientist who is an author on all five papers that have been questioned. A person who answered the phone at Dr. Batlogg's home in Switzerland said he was traveling and could not be reached; efforts to reach Dr. Sch"n through Lucent officials were unsuccessful.
